Dorothea Braby (17 October 1909 – 1987) was a British artist. Although she had a long career as a freelance designer producing work for several well-known companies, Braby is best known for the book illustrations she created, particularly those for the
Golden Cockerel Press
The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961.
History
The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes ...
.
Early life
Braby was born in
Wandsworth
Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
and grew up in
Putney, the third child of Percy Braby, a solicitor, and
Maud Churton Braby
Julia Maud Churton Braby (1875 – 31 December 1932) was an English journalist and author born in China, notable for her best-sellers on love and marriage, especially ''Modern Marriage and How to Bear It'' (1908).
All of her work was published, ...
, a journalist and author who had been born in China.
1911 United Kingdom census
The United Kingdom Census 1911 of 2 April 1911 was the 12th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The total population of the United Kingdom was approximately 45,221,000, with 36,070,000 recorded in England ...
for 3, Hazlewell Road, Putney, London S.W. Braby was educated at the
St Felix School
Saint Felix School is a 2–18 mixed, independent, day and boarding school in Reydon, Southwold, Suffolk, England. The school was founded in 1897 as a school for girls but is now co-educational.
History
The school was founded in 1897 as a girls ...
in
Southwold, and then from 1926 to 1930 at the
Central School of Arts and Crafts in London.
For a time she was enrolled at the
Heatherley School of Fine Art and also studied art in Paris and Florence.
Career
Braby’s work was mostly as an illustrator of books, including several volumes produced by the
Golden Cockerel Press
The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961.
History
The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes ...
.
She spent eighteen months working on their 1948 edition of the ''
Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
''.
For ''The Saga of Llywarch the Old'', Braby created colour engravings that resembled mediaeval ivory tablets.
Among the other books she illustrated were a 1950 edition of
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
' ''Poems'' and a 1954 edition of
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
's ''
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime #REDIRECT Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories#Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
{{R to section
1887 short stories
Works originally published in The Court and Society Review ...
''. Her own volume, ''The Way of Wood Engraving'' was published in 1953.
Braby exhibited widely, both in Britain and overseas. The
Society of Women Artists, the Hampstead Artists' Council, and the
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...
all showed works by Braby.
During her design career, Braby also produced work for ''
The Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'', ''
The Studio'', and
ICI.
In 1959, she gave up working as an artist for a full-time career as a social worker.
A memorial exhibition was held at
Burgh House
Burgh House is a historic house located on New End Square in Hampstead, London, that includes the Hampstead Museum. The house is also listed as Burgh House & Hampstead Museum.
Brief history
Burgh House was constructed in 1704 during the re ...
,
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
, in 1988.
Selected works
Books illustrated by Braby included
* ''Mr Chambers and Perephone'' by C.Whitfield,
Golden Cockerel Press
The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961.
History
The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes ...
, 1937
* ''The Ninety-First Psalm'' by C.Whitfield, Golden Cockerel Press, 1944
* ''The Lottery Ticket'' by V.G.Calderon, Golden Cockerel Press, 1945
* ''The Mabinogion'' by V.G.Calderon, Golden Cockerel Press, 1948
* ''Gilgamesh, King of Erech'' by
F.L. Lucas
Frank Laurence Lucas (28 December 1894 – 1 June 1967) was an English classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and intelligence officer at Bletchley Park during ...
, Golden Cockerel Press, 1948
* ''Poems'' by
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
,
Folio Society, 1950
* ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'', Golden Cockerel Press, 1952
* ''The Fearless Treasure'' by
Noel Streatfeild
Mary Noel Streatfeild OBE (24 December 1895 –11 September 1986) was an English author, best known for children's books including the "Shoes" books, which were not a series (though some books made references to others). Random House, the ...
, Joseph, 1953
* ''Lord Arthur Savile's Crime'' by
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, Folio Society, 1954
* ''The Semi-Attached Couple'' by
Emily Eden
Emily Eden (3 March 1797 – 5 August 1869) was an English poet and novelist who gave witty accounts of English life in the early 19th century. She wrote a celebrated account of her travels in India, and two novels that sold well. She was also a ...
, Folio Society, 1954
* ''The Saga of Llywarch the Old'' by
Glyn Jones, Golden Cockerel Press, 1955
Braby also wrote and illustrated ''The Commandments'', published by Lewis in 1946, and ''The Way of Wood Engraving'', published in 1953.
References
External links
*
Illustrations by Braby in the Victoria & Albert Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braby, Dorothea
1909 births
1987 deaths
20th-century British painters
20th-century English women artists
Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design
Alumni of the Heatherley School of Fine Art
Artists from London
English illustrators
English wood engravers
People educated at Saint Felix School
Women book artists
Women engravers
20th-century engravers