Pastorale with wood engravings by Lucien Pissarro and a note on the Kelmscott paper by John Bidwell (Whittington Press, 2011)
Note: Throughout this post, I will frequently refer to Lucian Pissarro by his surname. On the occasion where I refer to his famous father, Camile, I will do so by first name.
Pastorale is a 2011 edition printed by The Whittington Press and published by them in conjunction with The Ashmolean Museum (Oxford) and The Morgan Library (New York). The book’s release coincided with a major exhibition at the Ashmolean, Lucien Pissarro in England: the Eragny Press 1895-1914 (the Eragny Press was one of the great presses of the early British private press movement). Upon his death, Pissarro’s widow and daughter donated to the museum most his studio’s contents. This enabled the Ashmolean to mark the occasion of the exhibition with an edition of Pissarro’s wood engravings printed from the original blocks. It is these engravings that form the backbone of Pastorale.
Edition details
As with many major editions from Whittington, the book was issued in three states.
The deluxe “A” state consists of 40 copies bound in full vellum along. I comes with a portfolio containing additional prints of the engravings and one additional engraving, was printed on Batchelor’s Otter paper, and comes in a solander box.
The special “B” state consists of 100 copies bound in quarter Oasis leather over Fabriano Ingress paper sides. It comes with a portfolio containing additional prints of the engravings and one additional engraving, was printed on Batchelor’s Flower paper, and comes in a slipcase.
The ordinary “C” state consisted of 160 copies quarter bound in two types of Fabriano Ingres paper. It was printed on Batchelor’s Crown and Sceptre paper and comes in a slipcase.
Here I’ll be looking at one of the ordinary “C” copies.
Binding and exterior design
The slipcase is bound in white paper with a feint blue pinstripe, its ends covered in grey cloth. Its style is very typical of the Fine Book Bindery’s work for Whittington. Indeed, the pinstripe has been used on some other Whittington Press books (Midwinter and Venice come to mind) and I do quite enjoy it.
Within is a volume quarter bound in light grey paper over a grey-blue laid paper. The grey paper is blind debossed on the front with the title, while the Eragny pressmark is printed on the blue part. Finishing the exterior design is a simple printed title label on the spine. One thing worth mentioning about the design is that the proportions (with a wider than usual quarter binding) were clearly inspired by Eragny Press editions, a nice touch.
The sewn binding has blue and white striped head and tailbands.
The paper and John Bidwell’s essay
Opening the book past tasteful oatmeal-coloured endpapers, we reach the main text block. As noted above, the three states of this edition were each printed on a different paper. The story behind these is provided in an interesting and enlightening six page essay by John Bidwell at the start of the book.
The Flower paper used in the B state was manufactured by Joseph Batchelor for William Morris at the Kelmscott Press—an association that lent the paper a certain prestige. This paper continued to be used in projects approved by Morris’ estate after his death, and the sheets used in this edition were originally intended for the use of the Oxford University Press. The Otter paper of the A state, also from the OUP, was a special making of the stock with the watermark of Robert Proctor. Both papers were acquired by Wittington when OUP’s printing division was wound-down.
The Crown and Sceptre paper was an officially licensed reproduction of the Kelmscott paper, the Batchelor’s manufactured for wider use. A large quantity was purchased by US financier J. P Morgan for an ambitious publishing project that never came to fruition. The paper therefore sat for the best part of a century in the vaults of the Morgan Library, who supplied it to Whittington for use in this edition.
Since all three papers are based on the same Morris formula, there is relatively little difference between them. But the sheets used in the A and B states have the cachet of the direct Kelmscott pedigree. In any case, this Batchelor’s paper is justifiably renowned for its pleasing off-wite colouration and subtle tactile quality. The top edge is trimmed while the bottom and fore edges have a deckle.
Something a little bit unusual about Pastorale is that the three papers each had a different sheet size, meaning the three states of the edition each have a slightly different format. I measure the page size of this C state at 27.5cm × 18.5cm (10¾″× 7¼″).
Enclosed with the book was a slip of blue paper printed thus:
DEAR READER: we have done our best to remove the marks from this paper, but because of its age, some have preferred to stay where they are, and we hope you will forgive this patina of age.
Whittington has occasionally used these papers on other printing projects (e.g., the frontispiece poster from Pages From Presses II), presumably using up the remainder of the stock acquired for Pastorale.
Other textual material
Besides Bidwell’s essay on the paper, there are two other short passages of text. First is a one-page introduction by John Randle that helps to understand how the project came about. Second is a two page reminiscence from Whittington’s Miriam Macgregor whose grandfather was an acquaintance of Pissarro’s (and who took responsibility for proofing the coloured engravings in this edition).
There’s also an index of the included engravings, with details of which Eragny Press edition they come from and some occasional additional notes by Colin Harrison.
The text of this edition was set in 12pt Caslon and a colophon page at the end of the book provides some production details.
Engravings
Pastorale contains 24 engravings by Pissaro. The first, which serves as a frontispiece, is one of his most famous—a colour engraving from the Ergany edition of The Queen of the Fishes. It faces an austere title page typical of Whittington’s work, printed in two colours.
The remainder of the engravings come after the textual material. They are printed (one per page) on recto pages only. Below each engraving is a blind debossed number corresponding to the engraving’s entry in the aforementioned index. I appreciated this design decision, which is more subtle than a printed number and keeps the attention squarely on the images themselves. Four of the engravings are in colour (including the frontispiece), the remainder being printed in black ink.
The images are not intended to be representative of Pissarro’s oeuvre. On the contrary, they have been selected for the shared pastoral theme, thus explaining the book’s title. There’s something graphic and almost medieval about Pissarro’s style as he depicts ordinary people at rest in their bucolic surrounds. Whittington’s printing is characteristically excellent, especially considering that they were printing from blocks that are well over a century old, and the difficulty in reproducing the subtle colouration of Pissarro’s work.
Summing up
Overall, this is a simple edition, but a quite enjoyable one. Among its highlights: the novelty of an Eragny Press-inspired exterior design; that delicious antique Batchelor’s-Kelmscott paper; John Bidwell’s informative history of this paper; and, of course, the great reproduction of Pissarro’s distinctive engravings. It’s a real joy to take this book down every now and then and have a leaf through. ■
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Exhibition catalogue
The Ashmolean exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue that may be valuable to anyone interested in early British private press publishing. It contains a richly illustrated catalogue of Eragny Press books, as well as essays about Pissarro’s time in England the the establishment of the press. You can search for copies at eBay US**, eBay UK**, AbeBooks US**, or AbeBooks UK**.
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