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‘The Cheapest Work Ever Printed’: Illustrating the Classics in Limbird's British Novelist
Author(s) -
Dillard Leigh Grey
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12414
Subject(s) - reprint , audience measurement , narrative , art , art history , history , classics , literature , law , physics , astronomy , political science
Limbird's Novelist draws inspiration from eighteenth‐century sources, reprinting some of the most popular novels of that era for a nineteenth‐century readership. Often overlooked, Limbird's work in the 1820s' reprint trade places him in a long line of publishers who hawked affordable editions enhanced by illustrations. While Limbird was certainly not the only nineteenth‐century stationer engaging in illustrated reprints, his wood‐engraved endeavour offers a compelling visual response to familiar narratives. As an heir to the reprint tradition of James Harrison and Charles Cooke, Limbird's collection adapts scenes and illustrations from eighteenth‐century novels for a new edition and a new medium.