William Dickes (1815-1892) was an English illustrator, engraver, printmaker and lithographer. Dickes worked as apprentice to the wood-engraver Robert Edward Branston,

Allen Robert Branston Allen Robert Branston (1778–1827) known more generally as Robert Branston, was a British wood-engraver. Life Branston was the son of a general copper plate engraver and heraldic painter, born at Lynn, Norfolk in 1778. He was apprenticed to hi ...

's son, in about 1831. He studied at the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

in 1835 and displayed examples of oil-colour printing at the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...

. He founded ''William Dickes & Company'' in London about 1864, his workshop and office being at 48 Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London (1846–48); 4 Crescent Place, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London (1849–51); 5 Old Fish Street, Doctor's Common, London (c.1852); 109 Farringdon Road, London (c.1867-1875). Dickes retired in 1873. William Dickes was one of a group of London-based wood-engravers who saw in the developing market for illustration a great opportunity to profitably use their technical and artistic skills - the burgeoning book and periodical trade in London created an insatiable demand for images. Dickes assembled a team of wood-engravers between 1842 and 1847 to illustrate the Abbotsford edition of

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

's work. Dickes specialised in illustrating books on natural history—such as works by Anne Pratt— and was a licensee of the Baxter Process of printing. His biographer, Alfred Docker, bequeathed 1370 works by Dickes to 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 ...

in 1931 and these are kept at Blythe House.British Museum
/ref> Dickes collected many awards for the quality of his lithography. Although starting with wood-engraving, he moved to and developed new processes in colour lithography using copper plates. His work was exhibited at International Exhibitions in London, Dublin and Paris in the 1860s.

Chromolithography Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour prints. This type of colour printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. When chromolithography is used to reproduce ph ...

reached its pinnacle toward the end of the 1800s. Colour images were printed using multiple stones, each printing a different colour in a process calling for precise alignment.

Illustrations

''Glaucus or The Wonders of the Shore''
-

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...

, MacMillan & Co., 1859
''Actinologia Britannica - A History of the British Sea-Anemones and Corals''
-

Philip Henry Gosse Philip Henry Gosse FRS (; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of ma ...

, Van Voorst, 1860 * ''Studies from the Great Masters'' - Rev. Bennet George Johns, Hamilton, Adams and Co., London, 1862 *''A Year With the Wild Flowers'' - Edith Waddy, Wesleyan Conference Office of London, 1877
''The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, & Ferns of Great Britain and their allies, the club mosses, horsetails, etc.''
- Anne Pratt (1806–1893),

Edward Step Edward Step FLS (11 November 1855 – 1931) was the author of many popular and specialist books on various aspects of nature. His many works on botany, zoology and mycology were published between 1894 and (posthumously) 1941. Some of his books o ...

(1855–1931), F. Warne, 1905

Bibliography

* ''The Colour Prints of William Dickes'' - Alfred Docker, London, Courier Press, 1924

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickes, William 1815 births 1892 deaths English illustrators English engravers Place of birth missing