Ravilious / Shakespeare

Twelfth Night, illustrated by Eric Ravilious, Golden Cockerel Press 1932

At the Royal College of Art, Enid Marx later recalled, she and Ravilious performed in a medieval Christmas play. ‘We wore medieval costumes, Ravilious in parti-coloured tights. I do remember he looked rather like a figure in his own engraving (Shakespeare for Golden Cockerel).' Perhaps he drew on the memory of college days when working on 'Twelfth Night', the last of Robert Gibbings' great Golden Cockerel productions.

Planned as a lavish successor to Gill's 'Canterbury Tales', the book was initially priced at five guineas, but as the recession deepened Gibbings wrote to Ravilious,'I do not think there is a dog's chance of selling more than 250 copies at three guineas...' Other publishers might have abandoned the project altogether, but Gibbings was made of stern stuff. Ravilious agreed to a reduced fee, and 'Twelfth Night' appeared in 1932.

In one scene Viola asks the Clown, 'Dost thou live by thy tabor?' Ravilious had a lot in common with the Clown, professing to Gibbings, 'I'm in pretty low waters myself financially...' but carrying on regardless.

This is an extract from 'Ravilious: Wood Engravings', published by The Mainstone Press.

Robert Gibbings: Wood Engravings

Clear Waters, early 1920s

Whale Leaping, 1935

Scouting for Whales, 1935

Harpooning, 1935

Cormorant, 1937

Seagull, 1934

A prolific wood engraver, author and publisher (as owner of the Golden Cockerel Press in the 1920s and early 30s), Robert Gibbings (1889-1958) was the epitome of the Romantic Modern. He published more than seventy limited edition books during his tenure at the press, commissioning Eric Gill, Eric Ravilious, John Nash and numerous other artists to illustrate them with wood engravings.

By the late 1930s he was becoming popular as an author who illustrated his own books with sometimes quirky illustrations. He had a particular penchant for rivers, and had a wartime hit with 'Sweet Thames Run Softly'; the recent reissue by Little Toller reproduces the wood engravings very well. The pictures above are from 'The Wood Engravings of Gibbings' by Thomas Balston (1949 ed).

Just for fun, here's the extraordinary harpooning picture fulfilling its purpose...

Only 275 copies of this book were printed, so it's rather expensive (sigh). I love to see commissioned wood engravings in their intended context; they work so well with text.