Richard Doyle – British illustrator (1824-1883)

Richard Doyle (1824-1883) was bom in London into a large and talented family. (His nephew was to become Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes). Tutored by his father, John Doyle, a celebrated Irish graphic satirist, ‘Dicky’ drew from childhood with a delicate, easy line and fresh, decorative origi­nality. Inspired by memory or invention rather than life, he specialized in fantasy and gentle social satire and was particu­larly adept at conveying the vitality and individuality of crowds and processions.

When he was fifteen his first published work appeared. Dur­ing the year 1840 he kept a charmingly illustrated manuscript Journal, not published until 1885. By the age of nineteen he was contributing regularly to Punch and in 1849 he designed their famous magazine cover that was to be used for the next hundred years. However in 1850, Doyle, a devout Roman Catholic, resigned from Punch over its bitter attack on the papacy. He turned to book illustration and watercolour painting. Exhibi­tions of his work were shown at the Royal Academy in 1868 and 1871.

Richard Doyle’s ability was keenly admired during his life­time and he was a frequent and welcome guest in fashionable society whose moods and mannerisms he so eloquently mir­rored. He collaborated with some of the most noted writers of the day, contributing ten sketches to Charles Dickens’s series of Christmas books. He illustrated W.M. Thackeray’s Rebecca and Rowena (1850), John Ruskin’s The King of the Golden River (1851) and Thomas Hughes’s The Scouring of the White Horse (1859).

In 1849 Doyle provided pictures for The Enchanted Doll by his Punch colleague, Mark Lemon. The same year he did thirty wood-engravings for a collection of international folk tales, published posthumously as The Doyle Fairy Book (1890). Doyle’s ‘Fairyland Pictures from the Elf World’ were already finished when the publishers, Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer, commissioned William Allingham (1824-1889) to write the accompanying verse. Together they appeared in the deluxe folio album In Fairy Land (1870). Allingham was an Irish poet, associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Although extremely expensive, In Fairy Land went into a second edition in 1875. The sixteen plates — undoubtedly Doyle’s best work — were printed in eight to twelve colours as the largest, most ambitious wood-engravings undertaken by Edmund Evans. Doyle also did the gilt cover and spine design on the green cloth binding as well as the title-page lettering. His fairies, gnomes and elves, with their luminous eyes and distinc­tive faces, are highly sentimentalized. These amusing, lively, fanciful illustrations later inspired a second text.

At the sugges­tion of his friend and publisher, Charles Longman, the folklorist Andrew Lang (1844-1912), confident that he could exceed Allingham, invented a story to complement them. The Princess Nobody (1884), with a selection of Doyle’s drawings, rearranged and reduced in size and content, was published under the imprint of Longmans, Green and Co. Lang merely succeeded in diminishing the impact of Doyle’s superb artistry which ultimately overwhelmed both writers.

As a graceful and sympathetic artist of ‘most excellent fancy’, Richard Doyle proved a worthy Master Painter to the Court of Fairyland.

Source: English Illustrated Books for Children, edited by Margaret Crawford Maloney.

Works Solely by Doyle

Doyle created several books for which he served as both author and illustrator, many originating from his childhood drawings:

• The Tournament at Eglinton (London: Dickinson, 1839). Doyle’s first published work, produced at age fifteen, depicting the famous Eglinton Tournament of 1839 .
• A Journal Kept by Richard Doyle in the Year 1840 (London: Smith Elder, 1885). Published posthumously, containing the artist’s early journal with illustrations .
• Jack the Giant Killer (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1888). Produced originally in 1842, this edition features Doyle’s characteristic blend of humor and grotesquerie . A separate edition was published by Cundall & Addey in 1851 with thirty-five drawings engraved by the Dalziel brothers .
• Manners and Customs of Ye Englyshe (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1849). A collaboration with text by Perceval Leigh, originally published as a series in Punch .
• The Foreign Tour of Messrs. Brown, Jones and Robinson (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1854). One of Doyle’s most popular successes, a comic travel narrative featuring three English tourists abroad .
• Selections from the Rejected Cartoons (London: McLean, 1848). A collection of illustrations originally submitted to Punch .
• An Overland Journey to the Great Exhibition (London: Chapman & Hall, 1851) .
• Bird’s Eye Views of Society (London: Smith Elder, 1864) .
• Homer for the Holidays (London: Pall Mall Gazette, 1887). Produced originally in 1836 and published posthumously .

Works with Collaborators

Charles Dickens

Doyle contributed illustrations to three of Dickens’s Christmas books, working alongside John Leech and Clarkson Frederick Stanfield :

• The Chimes (London: Chapman & Hall, 1845 [1844]) .
• The Cricket on the Hearth (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1845) .
• The Battle of Life (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1846) .

Fairy Tales and Fantasy

• The Fairy Ring (London: Murray, 1846). A collection of Grimm’s fairy tales that established Doyle’s reputation as a fairy illustrator .
• Fairy Tales from All Nations, edited by Anthony R. Montalba (1849). This volume showcased Doyle’s gift for creating elves, fairies, and mythical figures .
• The Enchanted Doll, text by Mark Lemon (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1849) .
• The King of the Golden River, text by John Ruskin (London: Smith Elder, 1851). Doyle’s illustrations for Ruskin’s classic fairy tale remain among his most admired works .
• In Fairyland: A Series of Pictures from the Elf-World (London: Longman, 1870 [1869]). Widely regarded as Doyle’s masterpiece, this volume contains sixteen color plates and thirty-six pen drawings accompanied by a poem by William Allingham. It is considered one of the finest book productions of the Victorian era .
• The Princess Nobody (1884). A tale of fairyland illustrated by Doyle .

William Makepeace Thackeray

• Rebecca and Rowena (London: Chapman & Hall, 1850) .
• The Newcomes (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1855). Doyle’s illustrations for Thackeray’s novel appeared in serial form 1854–1855 .

Other Collaborations

• A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla, text by Leigh Hunt (London: Smith Elder, 1848) .
• The Scouring of the White Horse, text by Thomas Hughes (London: Macmillan, 1859) .
• Piccadilly, text by Laurence Oliphant (London: Blackwood, 1870) .
• A Selection from the Works of Frederick Locker (London: Moxon, 1865) .
• Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures, text by Douglas Jerrold (1866). Doyle contributed illustrations alongside John Leech and Charles Keene .
• An Old Fairy Tale Told Anew, text by J. R. Planché (London: Routledge, 1865) .

Periodical Work

• Punch (1843–1850). Doyle designed the cover for the first issue in 1841 and joined the staff in 1843, becoming head of the illustration department. He produced a seven-year output of illustrations, borders, parodies, and social commentaries before resigning in 1850 over the magazine’s anti-Catholic stance .

Posthumous Collections

• The Doyle Fairy Book, edited by A. R. Montalba (London, 1890). Published after Doyle’s death, collecting his fairy illustrations .
• The Rose and The Ring, text by W. M. Thackeray (1898). An edition featuring nine illustrations by Doyle .
• The Christmas Books of M. A. Titmarsh (London: Smith Elder, 1898). With illustrations by Doyle and Thackeray .

Standard Bibliographic References

The essential scholarly resources for the study of Doyle’s work include:

• Engen, Rodney K. Richard Doyle (Stroud: Catalpa Press, 1983). The first complete list of Doyle’s illustrations for books and magazines, compiled from much unpublished material including letters to Dickens, Thackeray, and Rossetti .
• Hambourg, Daria. Richard Doyle (London: Art & Technics, 1948) .
• Engen, Rodney, Michael Hesletine, and Lionel Lambourne. Richard Doyle and His Family (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983). Exhibition catalogue .