Wow, I thought as I saw the bold figure of a lion drawn in deep dark colors that seemed to glisten on the page in front of me. I had asked the auction-house staffer for a flat box of drawings not knowing what I’d find.
As soon as I saw the lion, I was struck by its artistry. It filled the page with its enormity, with a full curvy mane engulfing its neck and a sleek body standing taut and straight. The antique print still had a shiny texture that reflected off the overhead lights in the auction house. Beneath the animal was a thick block of text describing its ferocity (in hunting and eating its prey, told in stark terms) and its dangerous nature.
The lion was illustrated on a page that looked as if someone had torn it from an old book. It pains me when a dealer (or anyone) desecrates a book, stripping the pages to be sold separately for a better price. Some years ago, I picked up some pages of Pennsylvania bird prints that had been torn from an 1890s book.
But as I read the text beneath this drawing, I saw a listing for prices for the print: ¾ d. Plain; 2d. coloured. The “d” was for pence or penny. This one was sold as a single print and was not taken from a book.
It was one of five prints of animals, including a huge black cat with two kittens that were featured as large as the lion. The drawings were hand-colored wood engravings, and one bore the signature WHIMPER, SC. I learned that many of these were created by Josiah Wood Whymper, a well-known British engraver, illustrator and watercolor painter. The signature on the print was an early signature by the artist – pre-1840.
Each print was published by the Great Britain-based Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge through its Committee of General Literature and Education. The society was founded in 1698 by the Rev. Thomas Bray to spread the word about and increase the knowledge of the Christian religion around the world.
Publication of books was one of the society’s programs to fulfill its mission. It published books on such subjects as theology, Jews, carriages, wildflowers, science, travel and animals, as well as fiction. The prints were sold as groupings in book form and as singles. In two of the prints at auction, a religious connection is noted in the text. Beneath the leopard are references to three Bible verses.
The society formed the literature committee in 1832 to publish schoolbooks.
The prints at auction were part of “Thirty Plates of Illustrative Natural History” published in the 1840s. There were four bound books of 30 plates each, as well as the individual prints. Another grouping was titled “Thirty Plates Illustrative of Natural Phenomena,” which included a rainbow, geysers, icebergs, glaciers and Niagara Falls. The society also produced the Saturday Magazine, founded in 1832 as an educational publication.
Here are drawings of the other prints at auction:
