Lost & found : Rachel Reckitt's book illustrations, including the complete set of woodblocks engraved for "The Mill on the Floss," & what was lost in their making / by Hal Bishop.
Publisher:
Whittington Press,
Copyright Date:
2010
Description:
xii, 57 pages, 44 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 27 cm, in case 28 cm
Library copy is number 153. IaU This edition of 225 copies is set in 14-point Van Dijck at Gloucester Typesetting, & printed at Whittington on Zerkall mould-made papers. 40 copies are half-bound in Oasis leather & contain a set of proofs of the engravings for The Mill on the Floss -- Colophon.
Contents:
Lost & found -- The Mill on the Floss -- The engravings -- Aftermath -- Tea at Golsoncott / Miriam Macgregor.
Summary:
In 1950, the publisher Paul Elek commissioned Rachel Reckitt to engrave sixteen whole-page illustrations for George Eliot's THE MILL ON THE FLOSS .... The blocks turned out to be Rachel's finest illustrative work, but Elek went into receivership and tragically [the engravings] were never published. The images were exhibited for the first time in 1997, from proofs that Rachel had taken after engraving the blocks. Shortly afterwards the blocks themselves came to light, when it was realised that the non-appearance of the engravings had been a double tragedy, for on the reverse of the blocks were parts of other much larger engravings done by Rachel before the war. Due to the wartime shortage of boxwood she had sawn the blocks down to less than half size. Lost and Found will show all sixteen of the blocks for The Mill on the Floss for the first time, as well as reconstructing the larger palimpsest images on the reverse of the blocks. -- Publisher's description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.