t’s Shakespeare’s birthday, so today’s Random Illustrations of the Day come from a copiously illustrated (nearly 600 pictures!) set of The Henry Irving Shakespeare, produced by the famous 19th century Shakespearean actor and scholar Sir Henry Irving (1838 – 1905), illustrated by Gordon Browne. (That webpage says that this edition was designed by Irving specifically with the intention of aiding actors–interesting.)

In a late-19th century book on English illustrators, R.E.D. Sketchley judged Browne to be “in the forefront of illustrators popular with story-book publishers and with readers of story-books. … On the whole, the stories illustrated by Gordon Browne are adequately illustrated.” Not exactly an overenthusiastic endorsement, but Browne did produce “nearly six hundred” illustrations for the Henry Irving Shakespeare, which Sketchley describes as “the work of five years,” adding:

Illustrating these subjects, though in varying degree, the vitality and importance of an artist’s conception of life and of art is put to the test. So far as prompt and definite representation of persons, places, and encounters, and unflagging facility in devising effective forms of composition constitute interpretation, the artist maintained the level of the undertaking.

Myself (as I perused all 14 volumes of the set available courtesy of HathiTrust), I was a little disappointed to find many of my favorite lines weren’t illustrated, but I will surmise that Browne did illustrate a great many lines that might not be the most likely to stick in one’s memory, but could do so better due to him calling attention to them.

Note: These images are in the public domain. For more information, see A Primer on Image Rights on OBA.

As always, click on the mosaic to enter slideshow mode.