Edmund Birckhead Bensell (June 11, 1842 – November 24, 1894) was an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and illustrator, usually known as E. B. Bensell. While an accomplished painter, he is best known for his ink drawings, particularly his illustrations for Charles F. Hazeltine's edition of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Life and family

Bensell was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, the son of Edmund Shippen Bensell and Margaret Sperry Bensell. His older brother was artist

George Frederick Bensell George Frederick Bensell (January 10, 1837 – May 26, 1879) was an American artist and illustrator, usually known as George Bensell, G. F. Bensell or George F. Bensell. He is best known for his paintings and role in forming the Philadelphia Sketc ...

. As an adult he lived in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. On March 20, 1871, Bensell married Eliza Robert Poole, a musician who frequently sang in the city's churches. They had one daughter, Marion Bensell, born in 1874. He died at the age of 52 in or near Philadelphia.

Career

Bensell and his brother George both attended and graduated from the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Philadelphia Sketch Club The Philadelphia Sketch Club, founded on November 20, 1860, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one of America's oldest artists' clubs. The club's own web page proclaims it ''the'' oldest. Prominent members have included Joseph Pennell, Thomas Eaki ...

, one of America's oldest existing artists' clubs. George was the club's first president, and It first met in his studio. Bensell also served as club president, from 1869 to 1871. The brothers' enthusiastic abolitionist feelings influenced its early political sentiments, and many of their early sketches were published in its popular publication, the ''Sketch Club Portfolio''. At first primarily a painter, Bensell made his reputation and career as an illustrator in the magazines and books of his day. He worked at various times for the firms of

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, J. B. Lippincott & Co.,

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...

and J. M. Stoddard & Co. His illustrations often appeared together with those of his brother until the latter's premature death in 1879.

Bibliography of books illustrated

*''Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing'' by

Charles Godfrey Leland Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe. Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensivel ...

(1866) *''A Christmas Poem'' by

George Wither George Wither (11 June 1588 O.S. (21 June 1588 NS) – 2 May 1667 O.S. (12 May 1667 NS)) was a prolific English poet, pamphleteer, satirist and writer of hymns. Wither's long life spanned one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of En ...

(1870) *''Ting-a-ling'' by

Frank R. Stockton Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century. Life Born i ...

(1870)
Project Gutenberg e-text

Internet Archive e-text
*''

The Vicar of Bullhampton ''The Vicar of Bullhampton'' is an 1870 novel by Anthony Trollope. It is made up of three intertwining subplots: the courtship of a young woman by two suitors; a feud between the titular Broad church vicar and a Low church nobleman, abetted b ...

'' by

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

(1870) *''Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made, or, The Struggles and Triumphs of Our Self-Made Men'' by James Dabney McCabe, Jr. (1871)
Project Gutenberg e-text

Internet Archive e-text
*''The judge's pets : stories of a family and its dumb friends'' / by E. Johnson (1872)
Google Books e-text
*''The underground rail road; a record of facts, authentic narratives, letters, &c. narrating the hardships hair-breadth escapes and death struggles of the slaves in their efforts for freedom, as related by themselves and others, or witnessed by the author; together with sketches of some of the largest stockholders, and most liberal aiders and advisers of the road'' / by

William Still William Still (October 7, 1821 – July 14, 1902) was an African-American abolitionist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, businessman, writer, historian and civil rights activist. Before the Ameri ...

(1872) *''Round-about rambles in lands of fact and fancy.'' / by

, Marian E. Stockton, Émile Antoine Bayard, and others (1874) *''A century after : picturesque glimpses of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania,: including Fairmount, the Wissahickon, and other romantic localities, with the cities and landscapes of the state. A pictorial representation of scenery, architecture, life, manners and character'' / by Edward Strahan (1875) *''Washington and seventy-six'' / by Lucy E. Guernsey and Clara F. Guernsey (1876) *''The boy's Percy : being old ballads of war, adventure and love from Bishop Thomas Percy's "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry" together with an appendix containing two ballads from the original Percy folio ms.'' / by Thomas Percy (1881)
Internet Archive e-text
*''Ting-a-ling tales'' / by

(1882) *''Little Bell : and other stories for boys and girls'' / by

Margaret Vandegrift Margaret Thomson Janvier (1844 – 1913) was an American poet and author of children's literature who published under the pseudonym Margaret Vandegrift. Biography Janvier was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Francis de Haes Janvier and Emma (N ...

(1884) *''The absent-minded fairy : for boys and girls'' / by

(1884) *'' Davy and the goblin, or, What Followed Reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"'' / by

Charles E. Carryl Charles Edward Carryl (December 30, 1841 – July 3, 1920 Contains information from the ''Dictionary of Literary Biography''.) was an American children's literature author. Biography Born in New York, Carryl became a second-generation successfu ...

(1885) ( Wikisource e-text)
Project Gutenberg e-text

Internet Archive e-text
*''The United States Secret Service in the late war : comprising the author's introduction to the leading men at Washington, with the origin and organization of the United States Secret Service Bureau, and a graphic history of rich and exciting experiences, North and South. With a profuse galaxy of magnificent full-page illustrations of exquisite beauty ...'' / by La Fayette C. Baker (1889) *''Daring exploits of scouts and spies : a graphic history of rich and exciting experiences, perilous adventures, hairbreadth escapes ...'' / by La Fayette C. Baker (1894) *''Pleasure book for little folks'' / by

William Brunton William Brunton Senior (26 May 1777 – 5 October 1851) was a Scottish engineer and inventor. Early life He was the eldest son of Robert Brunton, a watchmaker (14 Aug 1748–1834) of Dalkeith, where he was born. He studied mechanics in his fath ...

, James W. Louderbach, and others (1894) *''The Good time story book. : Pictures and stories for boys and girls'' / by William H. Van Ingen, Henry M. Snyder, and others (1894) *''

Imaginotions; Truthless Tales ''Imaginotions; Truthless Tales'' is a collection of nineteen children's fantasy stories by Tudor Jenks. It was first published in hardcover by The Century Co. in 1894; the first British edition was published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1900. Illustr ...

'' / by

Tudor Jenks Tudor Storrs Jenks (May 7, 1857 – February 11, 1922) was an American writer, poet, artist and editor, as well as a journalist and lawyer. He is chiefly remembered for the popular works of fiction and nonfiction he wrote for children and gener ...

(1894)
Internet Archive e-text
*''The Mammoth story book. : Full of pictures'' / by George G. White, William H. Van Ingen, and others (1894) *''The poor count's Christmas'' / by

(1927)

General references

Ask/Art Academic entry
*Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. ''Who Was Who in American Art: 400 years of artists in America''. 2d. ed. 3 vols. Madison, Conn.: Sound View Press, 1999. *Hotchkin, Samuel Fitch.
Ancient and Modern Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill
'. Philadelphia: P. W. Ziegler & Co., 1889, pp. 101–102 (sketch on grandfather, Dr. Charles Bensell). *Hamilton, Sinclair. ''Early American Book Illustrators and Wood Engravers, 1670-1870: a catalogue of a collection of American books illustrated for the most part with woodcuts and wood engravings in the Princeton University Library''. 2 vols. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958, 1968.

(includes biographies on E.B. Bensell and George F. Bensell) *Robeson, Susan Stroud, et al.
An Historical and Genealogical Account of Andrew Robeson of Scotland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and of His Descendants from 1653 to 1916
'. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1916, pp. 146, 230. *Shaw, John Mackay. ''Childhood in Poetry: a catalogue, with biographical and critical annotations, of the books of English and American poets comprising the Shaw Childhood in Poetry Collection in the Library of the Florida State University''. Detroit: Gale Research, 1967.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bensell, Edmund Birckhead 1842 births 1894 deaths American children's book illustrators 19th-century American painters American male painters Artists from Philadelphia Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni 19th-century American male artists