George Dalziel

Illustration of the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, by John Everett Millais, engraved by the Dalziels, from Parables of our lord (1864)

The Dalziel Brothers were a highly productive firm of Victorian engravers founded in 1839 by George Dalziel (1815-1902) and his brother Edward (1817-1905). They were later joined by John Dalziel and Thomas Dalziel (1823-1906). All were sons of a the artist, Alexander Dalziel of Wooler in Northumberland. ^[1]

The Dalziel brothers worked with many important Victorian artists, producing illustrations for the burgeoning magazine and book market of the period. Among the artists they worked with were Arthur Boyd Houghton, John Gilbert, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and James McNeill Whistler. They cut the illustrations to Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense (1862); Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

They also produced independent ventures, most notably The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, (Routledge, 1864), illustrated by Millais, and contributed humorous cartoons to magazines such as Fun, which George and Edward acquired in 1865.

Until the advent of photo-mechanical processes c 1880, they were pre-eminent in their trade. Examples of their work can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

At the end of the nineteenth century they collaborated on an autobiographical summary of their work "The Brothers Dalziel, A Record of Work, 1840-1890" published by Methuen. ^[2]

[edit] References

Caricature of Darwin contemplating a bustle, from Fun, 16th Nov, 1872

[edit] External links

A Dalziel Brothers engraving of Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy.

• Biography of Edward Dalziel
• Dalziels's Parables of Our Lord
• Excerpts from the Dalziel Brothers autobiography, with some of their engravings
• Books with engravings by the Dalziel brothers from the University of Florida Digital Collections

[edit] Gallery

[edit] Coral Island

[edit] Through the Looking Glass