uwmspeccoll:Wood Engraving WednesdayJOHN BUCKLAND WRIGHTThis week we present original wood engraving

uwmspeccoll:

Wood Engraving Wednesday

JOHN BUCKLAND WRIGHT

This week we present original wood engravings by New Zealander/English painter and printmaker John Buckland Wright for American writer James Branch Cabell’s comic fantasy novel Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice. The novel was first published in 1919 by Robert M. McBride and immediately became the subject of an ultimately unsuccessful, 2-year obscenity case, less for its sexual portrayals than for its scathing mockery of Anglo-American societal mores. Our Wright-illustrated edition was published in 1949 by Christopher Sandford at his Golden Cockerel Press (GCP) in and edition of 500 copies, with 16 original wood engravings by Wright.  

A long-standing and favorite illustrator for GCP productions from the 1930s until his death in 1954, Wright favored Cabell’s novel and believed his illustrated edition would sell well for GCP. Unfortunately, by this time Jurgen’s popularity had waned, and the edition did not sell as well as Wright had anticipated.  Nevertheless, Wright’s engravings, which seem more solemn than comic, are quite accomplished with an assured sense of line and composition. Our copy of this book is yet another gift from our friend Jerry Buff.

View a post on another John Buckland Wright-illustrated GCP edition.

View more posts on Golden Cockerel Press editions.

Viewmore posts with wood engravings!

Love seeing these illustrations! More about James Branch Cabell and Jurgen at VCU Libraries’ online exhibit: http://bit.ly/AboutCabell