Antonia, Hachi, is a wonderful Janeite with a complete passion for the world of illustration. She is funny and loves to share her love for Jane Austen to everyone she loves or meets (for example, her nice husband, always haunted by Jane :)). She has one of the most fantastic websites of Jane Austen in Spanish, specialized in illustrations. That is the reason, she writes this worthy article. Do not forget to visit her website: http://www.janeausten.es/
David Gilson in A Bibliography of Jane Austen [i]collects more than hundred artists
and illustrators who have put their art into the service of Jane’s work, a
number which has been growing since Gilson published his book. It would be and
endless work to try to get everyone. Of course, it would be needed more
knowledge than this Jane Austen fan have. Nevertheless, if I limit myself to
the editions I have been collecting in the last couples of years, I would like
to invite you to a small walk about some of the artists that, in several
formats, have illustrated the main work of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice[ii].
Deb Williams, in an interesting article[iii], published by the Jane Austen Society of Australia, makes
a good summary of the first and main artist of the Janeite work, and she says
how, differently to other writers who published later, like Dickens, the works
of Jane Austen did not have any illustration, and it was not till half a
century later, that we start to find illustrated works of her novels.
We will go on tiptoes with the illustrators of
the XIX century, because they are better known (and more valued). It is more
than probable that you all know the name of Hugh Thomson. Since George Allen published
in 1894 his 160 drawings for Pride and
Prejudice, they have not been stopped to be reprinted. You just have to
take a look to the Spanish publishing market, and all the illustrations are
his, first by Alba Editorial, and later by Alianza, using them for the editions
of the novel. You surely will also know the surname Brock. The ink drawings and
watercolors of the brothers Charles y Henry Brock[iv], had a deep acceptance and they
have been reprinted till the XX century.
Maybe, the name of Chris Hammond [v](pen-name of Christiana Mary Demain
Hammond, 1860-1900), is maybe unknown for some, and however, she illustrated in
a marvelous way, three of the Jane Austen novels: Emma in 1898, Sense and
Sensibility in 1899 and Pride and
Prejudice in 1900.
So, if we leave these main examples, I will
only do an exception among these artists of the XIX century, by talking about William
C Cooke. He is one of the earliest artists, he is earlier than those who I have
talked about before, and he is the only one which I posses his work. He made a
series of 10 volumes for Macmillan, which had the Works of Jane Austen in 1892
(2 volumes for Sense and Sensibility,
Pride and Prejudice, Emma y Mansfield Park and one for Northanger
Abbey and Persuasion). It is a
set of small volumes, with green cloth and golden ornaments. There are no many
illustrations for each volume. The only one that I have, the volume II of Pride and Prejudice (a reprint of 1895) has
hardly three illustrations, including the frontispiece.
They are in black, white and grey tones, and in my opinion, they lack
expression. We find an Elizabeth in several key points of the novel (reading
Darcy’s letter, receiving the news of the Lydia’s elopement or being admonished
by Lady Catherine) that shows a boring face more than other feeling. But it is
fair to say, they have an “old taste” which gives certain charm to these
illustrations.
- 
- 
All the illustrators that I have talked about
till now, published in a moment in which every presentation of the book had a
weight. They were years of luxury editions, which decorated the living rooms of
rich people. As time went by, the editions were cheaper – even those with
illustrations-, allowing that the books could get to a wider audience[vi], although they lost the elegant bindings.
However, if we compare them to the paperback editions from our days, some of
them still look like small treasures.
That is how we fin dan example in Lex de
Renault. His work, or its publishing, is from the beginning of XX century. In
1908, Collin’s Clear-Type Press published, inside the series Collin’s Illustrated Classics, a small
volume, in cloth or skin, reprinted in 1930, of his illustrations. Maybe they
were older, because they do not look like modern. What we can clearly say is
that, he was not lucky with his representations of Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy, who
as we can see below, are not the good-looking gentlemen they should be. In some
way, these illustrations look like those of William C. Cooke.
- 
Let’s jump in time, till 1945, so we can find very
different illustrations thanks to Robert Ball. Pride and Prejudice edition published by Doubleday, Doran & Company
had a limited number of books (1000 numbered and signed copies), which had to
be reprinted almost immediately, because the copy that I have looks from the
same year and it is not numbered or signed. The volume, bigger than those small
books, it has a light blue cloth, with golden ornaments (according to David
Gilson’s description of the limited edition, it seems to be the same), having
an angel in the cover over the letters P
& P. Inside, we can see 10 illustrations at one-page and three in
double page, all in color, as well as several drawings in black and white. The
one-page watercolors shows different characters, in a highly formal way, like
if they were posing for a picture; but one of Mr Bennet seems pretty nice and
representative. In the same way, we can say Darcy could not be more proud and
snooty than here.
- 
- 
Following
with color illustrations, we find Philip Gough, who made the illustrations for Macdonald Illustrated Classics, starting
with Emma in 1948. Pride and Prejudice came in 1951. The
small volume has a cover in red, with a small golden etching in the side.
The
illustrations by Philip Gough are stylized and with the influence of Rex
Whistler[vii] (we will talk about him later), and they are ones of my favorite
illustrations. Among other works, Gough illustrated for several covers some
Georgette Heyer novels, and for
children’s stories, like Alice in
Wonderland. Maybe for this, I personally think that the illustrations for Pride and Prejudice have certain charm
from the fantasy of children’s stories.
- 
Among
the few illustrated editions of the novels in Spanish, we find one from 1956,
published by Cumbre Publishing house, with illustrations from Jose Luis Florit,
mostly in black and white, others with red tones, but all of them, quite mistaken
about the clothes. If you do not know which book they belong, you would not
relate them to the work of Jane Austen.
- 
From
1976, it comes this wonderful edition, by Isabel Bishop and published by E. P.
Dutton.
It is
big, and this volume has yellow cloth with the silhouette of
Jane Austen in the cover, protected with a box for a good conservation. It
includes 31 full-page illustrations in black and white, among them, the
highlight are not just the characters but the scenes. For example, look at
these illustrations. I specially like the second one. It belongs to chapter
XLVI, and it shows when Elizabeth receives the news of Lydia’s elopment. Darcy,
with his arms in both sides, shows Lizzy’s angst.
- 
We
finish with Isabel Bishop in this walk through the illustrated world of Pride and Prejudice. But before
finishing about the editions oif the novel, we cannot stop to talk about a
young Spanish illustrator, whose talent we would love to see in a complete way.
I am talking about Almudena Romero. In this blog Pride
and Prejudice 200 Hundred Years[viii] , we are enjoying her illustrations of the novel during this year and we
want more!
Talking
about another kind of material, we will start with the cover of the drama
brochure of the novel, in 1936 in St. James Theatre, made by Rex Whistler. Maybe
we can appreciate now a little bit of the style which had influence in Philip
Gough. It is a very sweet cover, with pastel colours and an angel (with a bow).
I do not think it fits the spirit of the book (not even in the scene it shows),
but it has a great charm.
Finally,
we will see the most modern versions of the novel, those done for the Comic
World[ix]. In the last year, we have seen a true rise of the adaptations of the Austen’s
books to the graphic novel. All have been adaptated, mostly Pride
and Prejudice.
Like I
did with the most famous illustrators, I will not talk about the 2009 Marvel
version, which have been edited into Spanish this year. It is the most known
and reviewed, so I will focus in the lesser known comics.
In 2011 SelfMadeHero published a graphic novel,
adapted by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Robert Deas.
This is a version I certainly like for several
facts, like for example, it rescues some parts from the original text, key
moments. From the legendary: “It is a
truth…” till Mr Darcy’s letter, or Mrs Gardiner’s letter to Elizabeth. And
this is a way that people who has the comic, but has not read the book, to go
to the adventure of Reading Jane Austen directly.
On the other hand, it does not delete
characters, like Mr and Mrs Hurst, who were erased in certain movie versiones,
and also in the Marvel one.
The drawing is sharp, with long faces some
features, like the nose and the chin, very exagerated. It can be a shock in the
beginning, depending on our tastes, and mine is closer to “manga” graphic
novel, but you finally like it, because they are detailed in setting and scene
composition, like Mr Darcy’s proposal which we can see below, with the
characters, faced up, in each page:
A
series that will be a complete delight to classic literature and comic lovers
is, undoubtly, The Graphic Canon, which
has three published volumes, between 2012 and 2013.
These
volumes are a collection of classic works for the comic world, from the Epic Saga by Gilgamesh, Shakespeare,
Poe, Byron, Chorderlos de Laclos, Victor Hugo….Each volume has several stories
and different writers – with different styles-, that illustrate a selected
chapter of the work. In the volume two, we find Huxley King adapting the second
episode of Pride and Prejudice. It is
not the only surprise in this volume. It also features George Elliot, Brönte
sisters, Mary Shelley…
In the
prologue, Huxley sayss he is a great lover of Jane Austen’s novels and
specially Pride and Prejudice and you
can see it in her work. They are just eight pages, but made with a lot of care,
with a lot of details: in the cloths of the dresses, walls or hair styles. “My artwork is peculiarly pattern-heavy”, says the artist.
I said
previously that I like prefer Japanese manga for comics, and that is why I have
left this adaptation for the end, even if it is older than those reviewed
before. Reiko Mochizuki made the manga version of Pride and Prejudice, whose original in Japanese was published in
two volumes in 2009. After, it was translated and sold in Italy by Goen
Publishing House:
As you
can see, it is a version “full of sugar”, like a soap opera. They are published
under the cathegory of “shojo” or “josei”, both terms are for manga for
girls, the first one, and for adult women, the second one.
We
will find big and bright eyes, romantic curls and beautiful gentlemen. Everything
that reminds us to the famous Candy Candy. I know it is not for everybody, but
I must confess that – without being one of the most respectful comics – it is
one of my favorite comics.
It is
not the only Austen novel adapted to the manga. Mochizuki also adapted Sense and Sensibility and Yoko Hanabusa Emma, both of a volume each one. And it is just that our favorite
writer reach everywhere. Even wher you do not expect to find her, and if not,
let me tell you anecdote for finishing. As manga and anime are some of my
passions, Lovely Complex, also known
as LoveCom, is one of my favorite
works. This manga series tells us the love story between a couple of students
which are not common, a tall girl and a small boy, but full of sense of humour,
and also, a lot of pride and prejudice (but
take in considertation it is not an adaptation), but one day, I had the biggest
surprise when, watching the anime version, I saw this image and I had to stop
the image and laugh:
The main characters are in their English class,
and yes, what are they studying? Please, look at the board: “It is a truth universally acknowledge…”….,
if you like Jane Austen, the Universe will work against you so you can find her
in the most unexpected places
[i] Dabid Gilson, A Bibliography of Jane Austen, Oxford University Press, 1982.
[ii] I have collected illustrated
editions of Jane Austen, my favorite writer for years. The selection of
illustrator has been done according to the material I have, so I can share it
with other fans of Jane Austen. It is an arbritary selection and I do not want
to make a summary of all the illustrators of Pride and Prejudice. Also, I do not have the qualifications or the
art knowledge, so my opinions are just the point of view of a fan.
[iii] Deb Williams “Austen illustrated or, Jane Austen had no Phiz”, http://www.jasa.net.au/illo/
[iv] About the art of the brothers Brock, read the detailed article by
Cinthia García Soria “Austen Illustrator
Henry and Charles Brock”, http://mollands.net/etexts/other/brocks.html
[v]
About Chris Hammond, read article by Laurel Ann “Jane Austen Illustrators: Chris Hammond” , http://austenprose.com/2007/12/27/jane-austen-illustrators-chris-hammond/
[vi] Jane Austen was the first British writer,
after Dickens, that had all her Works published in the famous Everyman’s
Library. See Deirde Gilbert “From Cover
to Cover: Packaging Jane Austen from Egerton to Kindle”, published by
JASNA: http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol29no1/gilbert.html.
Everyman’s Library nació en 1905, con el objetivo de
poner al alcance de todas las clases sociales las principales obra de la
literatura universal, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyman's_Library
[vii] See David Gilson, “Later publishing history, with illustrations”,
Jane Austen in Context, edited by
Janet Todd, p. 156.
[viii] http://prideandprejudice200years.blogspot.com.es/
. About Almudena Romero’s work,
see her website http://www.almudenaromero.com/
[ix] For more information about
adaptations for the comic world, read the following article from El Sitio de
Jane: http://janeausten.zxq.net/comic.xhtml
