William Harvey (13 July 1796 – 13 January 1866) was a British wood-engraver and illustrator. Born at

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, Harvey was the son of a bath-keeper. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 17538 November 1828) was an English wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, and illustrating ch ...

, and became one of his favorite pupils. Bewick describes him as one "who both as an engraver & designer, stands preeminent" at his day (''Memoir'', p. 200). He engraved many woodblocks for Bewick's ''Aesop's Fables'' (1818). Harvey moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1817, studying drawing with

Benjamin Haydon Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactles ...

, and anatomy with

Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...

. In 1821, he made a wood-engraving after Haydon in imitation of engraving, the large block of the ''Assassination of L. S. Dentatus''. This was probably the then most ambitious woodblock which had been cut in England. Harvey switched to design, after the death of John Thurston, the then leading wood designer in London. One of his earliest works is his illustrations for Alexander Henderson's ''History of Ancient and Modern Wines'' in 1824. His masterpieces are his illustrations to ''Northcote's Fables'' (1823–33) and to E. W. Lane's '' The Arabian Nights' Entertainments'' (1838–40). Harvey is buried in

Richmond Cemetery Richmond Cemetery is a cemetery on Lower Grove Road in Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. The cemetery opened in 1786 on a plot of land granted by an Act of Parliament the previous year. The cemetery has been expande ...

Gallery

File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (1).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Azeez and Azeezeh'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (2).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of the Two Royal Mendicants'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (3).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of the Fisherman'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (4).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of uns El-Wojood'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (5).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Alee of Cairo'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (7).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of the Prince Kamar ez-Zeman, and the Princess Budoor'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (6).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Alee the son of Bekkar, and Shems en-Nahr'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (8).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of the Prince Kamar ez-Zeman, and the Princess Budoor'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (14).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Abd Allah of the Land and Abd Allah of the Sea'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (10).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of ... El-Ward Fi-l-Akma'm'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (11).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of the Two Princes El-Amjad and El-As'ad'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (12).jpg, Illustration to ''The Fifth Voyage of Es-Sindbad of the Sea'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (13).jpg, Illustration in notes to ''The Story of Maaroof'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (17).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Maaroof'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (15).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Aboo Seer and Abipp (sp) Keer'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (21).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Abd Allah of the Land ...'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (9).jpg, Illustration in notes to chapter IX File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (18).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Seyf El-Mulook and Bedeea El-Jemal'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (19).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of the City of Brass'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (22).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Ibra'heem and Jemeeleh'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (16).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Joodar'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (20).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of Hasan of El-Basrah'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (23).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story of the Merchant and the Jinnee'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (24).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story ... of the Black Islands'' File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (25).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story told by the Sulta'n's Steward File: Harvey W, 1001 nights (26).jpg, Illustration to ''The Story told by the Tailor''

References

*Bewick, Thomas (1975). ''A Memoir of Thomas Bewick''. Edited with an introduction by Iain Bain. London; New York: Oxford University Press. *

Notes

External links

Harvey's illustrations to ''Arabian Nights''
at Arabian Nights Books

at Art of the Print

at Wood Engraving, an Art Lost and Found: Engravers and Illustrators * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, William 1796 births 1866 deaths Burials at Richmond Cemetery British wood engravers British illustrators