Extra-illustration is the process whereby texts, normally in their published state, are customized by the incorporation of thematically linked prints, watercolors, and other visual materials.

History

Page from James Granger illustrated by A

Extra-illustration was a vibrant and widespread fashion in Britain and America during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While there was no set canon of titles chosen for extra-illustration, certain themes and subjects occur repeatedly. From the 1770s to the 1830s, most of the books selected were patriotic in tone and antiquarian or historical in subject. Titles ranged from biography, county histories, and topography to travel, natural history, and Shakespeare. As the pastime became more popular, the genre became more diverse but the scope remained the same: places and people, chronicles of contemporary life, the lives of artistic and theatrical celebrities, and a variety of then-modern writers, notably Byron and Dickens.

Lucy Peltz Dr. Lucy Peltz is Head of Collection Displays (Tudor to Regency) and Senior Curator 18th Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Peltz studied History of Art and French at Sussex University, followed by an MA in the Histor ...

, ''Facing the Text: Extra-Illustration, Print Culture, and Society in Britain, 1769–1840''. San Marino, California:

Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

, 2017. Distributed in the UK by

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...

. In 1892 Tredwell published a treatise on the love of book illustrating as a refined pursuit and a signifier of high culture.

Terminology

In Britain, extra-illustration is frequently called "Grangerising" or "Grangerisation," after

James Granger James Granger (1723–1776) was an English clergyman, biographer, and print collector. He is now known as the author of the ''Biographical History of England from Egbert the Great to the Revolution'' (1769). Granger was an early advocate of ani ...

whose seminal book ''Biographical History of England from Egbert the Great to the Revolution''—published in 1769 without illustrations—quickly prompted a fashion for portrait-print collecting and the incorporation prints and drawings into the printed text. However, the term "Grangerising" only came into use from the 1880s, more than a century after Granger's death. Ironically, for the process of book customization that carries his name, Granger himself never "grangerized" a book.

Examples

One of the first and certainly the most influential example was made by

Richard Bull (MP) Richard Bull (1721–1805) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1756 to 1780. He was a noted art collector who lived in a historic house on the Isle of Wight. Origins Baptised on 15 November 1721 in the c ...

who corresponded regularly with James Granger about his print collection and its organisation according to Granger's typologies. The Bull-Granger, as Richard Bull's extra-illustrated copy is often called, is now in the collection of the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

in California. A large collection of extra-illustrated books was formed during the same period by

Anthony Morris Storer Anthony Morris Storer (1746–1799) was an English man of fashion, politician and collector. Life Born on 12 March 1746, Anthony Morris Storer was elder son of Thomas Storer of Westmoreland, Jamaica (d. Golden Square, London, on 21 July 1793, a ...

who bequeathed them to

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

in 1799. In the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, a particularly impressive and early example is the copy of ''Some Account of London'' by

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...

, extra-illustrated by John Charles Crowle. Crowle filled fourteen folio volumes, bound in gold-tooled red leather, with a collection of over 3347 prints and drawings of London topography and of portrayals of historical events and people connected with the history of London. It was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1811 where it is registered under number G,1.1. Perhaps the largest project in the genre are the extra-illustrated books and related materials produced by Alexander Hendras Sutherland and his wife Charlotte, née Hussey, between c.1795 and 1839. The Sutherland collection is now shared between the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

and the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

. Other examples include an 1868 edition of

Aloysius Bertrand Louis Jacques Napoléon Bertrand, better known by his pen name Aloysius Bertrand (20 April 1807 — 29 April 1841), was a French Romantic poet, playwright and journalist. He is famous for having introduced prose poetry in French literature,Stuar ...

's prose-poem collection ''

Gaspard de la Nuit ''Gaspard de la nuit'' (subtitled ''Trois poèmes pour piano d'après Aloysius Bertrand''), M. 55 is a suite of piano pieces by Maurice Ravel, written in 1908. It has three movements, each based on a poem or ''fantaisie'' from the collection '' ...

'', illustrated with watercolors by

Louis Émile Benassit Louis Émile Benassit (20 December 1833 – 9 August 1902) was a French artist and raconteur. He cut a colorful figure in the literary and artistic circles of Paris in the 1860s and 1870s, known equally for his satirical drawings and for his ...

and Lucien Pillot for Henri Breuil, a Dijon chocolatier, now in the collection of the

Bibliothèque patrimoniale et d’étude de Dijon A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, and a copy of the Paul Meurice 1886 French translation of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', covered inside and out with watercolors painted by

Pinckney Marcius-Simons Pinckney Marcius-Simons (1867—July 17, 1909"P. Marcius Simons" (obituary), ''American Art News''.) was a New York-born artist who spent his youth in Spain, Italy, and France. He studied painting under Jehan Georges Vibert, eventually joining th ...

in 1908, in the collection of the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare material ...

in Washington, D.C., which has made all the images available online.

History

Terminology

Examples

References

Further reading