An illustrated initial letter (‘L’) by Mary Ellen Edwards, for Trollope’s ‘The Claverings’

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Illustrated initial letter

Mary Ellen Edwards

1866

Wood engraving by Horace Harral

3½ x 2¼ inches

Illustration for Anthony Trollope’sThe Clavverings, The Cornhill Magazine, July 1866, p.85.

Unlike the full-page illustrations which face them, and act as proleptic designs to draw the reader deeper into the instalment, the initial letters used in mid-Victorian periodicals usually depict a scene which is described in the opening lines. [continued below]

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Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke

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The words illustrated here are simple ones: ‘Lady Ongar sat alone, long into the night, when Harry Clavering had left her’ (p.85). Lamenting her ill-fated marriage, and still in love with Harry, Julia contemplates her situation. The artist focuses her suffering in a tightly controlled form, wrapped in her thoughts as she is wrapped in her inward gesture.

Bibliography

The Cornhill Magazine. London: Smith, Elder, 1866.

Last modified 13 September 2014