Lot 26
Helen Jacobs (1888-1970)
Set of original printing blocks for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Auction: Books & Manuscripts | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 1 to 78
Description
c.1935. 36 engraved metal plates (2 of which copper, the rest probably zinc), mounted on wooden blocks, 9 of which approx. 13 x 9.5cm and apparently for full-page illustrations, comprising the pictorial title-page, the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, the Caterpillar, Alice and the Potion, the Executioner, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, the Dodo, the Duchess, and Alice and Creatures, all of these with the artist's signature in the plate, the remaining plates of various dimensions (8 approx. 10 x 7cm, the smallest approx. 2.6 x 2.2cm, the rest of differing intermediate sizes). Variably oxidised.
Together with a set of original engraved printing blocks by Helen Jacobs for The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley (16 in total, one measuring 13.2 x 9.4cm, 5 approx. 8.5 x 9cm or inverse, the remainder 7.6 x 7.6cm or smaller, all apparently zinc, mounted on wooden blocks, the 6 larger blocks signed in the plate by Helen Jacobs), retaining old packing case labelled ‘[Riv]erside Water Babies’ with printed label of Ault & Wiborg, ink manufacturers.
(With 2 further metal plates unmounted, included with the lot.)
Footnote
A noteworthy survival from the career of ‘one of Britain’s finest and most gifted children's illustrators … [Who] admired Arthur Rackham, and was clearly influenced by him … Yet did not win the acclaim she deserved' (Dictionary of British Women Artists). These printing blocks were produced for the Riverside Readers series of abridged retellings of children's classics, edited by Constance M. Martin and published by Philip & Tacey, educational equipment suppliers, c.1935-45.