John Vernon Lord, 'The Ant and the Grasshopper'

John Vernon Lord, 'The Ant and the Grasshopper', illustrated from wood-engravings from Aesop's Fables, retold in verse by James Mitchie, 1989. Published by Jonathan Cape, London. National Art Library Pressmark: 60.HH.46.

John Vernon Lord
'The Ant and the Grasshopper'
1989
Illustration from wood-engravings
From Aesop's Fables, retold in verse by James Mitchie
Published by Jonathan Cape, London
National Art Library Pressmark: 60.HH.46.

John Vernon Lord (born 1939) used the area around his home in Ditchling, Sussex, as setting for his Aesop's Fables illustrations. His pen and ink drawings are painstaking in their detail and resemble wood engravings. Lord used mapping and Rotring pens and sometimes a blunted ruler for parallel lines. Wax was sometimes added to the paper to resist the ink, giving a luminescence to some of the backgrounds. In an essay on 'Hatching', Lord wrote; "The editing and selection of gap-making is fundamental to drawing… A picture is made up of a balancing between the making, the removing, and the not-making of marks."

Lord has been a prolific illustrator for nearly fifty years as well as teaching illustration at Brighton Art College. His past work includes an album cover for Deep Purple's 'The Book of Taliesyn' in 1968 and book illustrations to 'The Giant Jam Sandwich' in 1972 and 'The Nonsense Verse' by Edward Lear in 1984, both published by Jonathan Cape. He still illustrates, working now with the Inky Parrott Press on Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'.

Helen Ward, 'A Time to Dance: in which a cricket learns about work the hard way' (The Ant and the Grasshopper)

Helen Ward, 'A Time to Dance: in which a cricket learns about work the hard way' (The Ant and the Grasshopper), from ink, watercolour and gouache illustration. From 'Unwitting Wisdom: an Anthology of Aesop's animal fables', 2004. Published by Templar, London. National Art Library Pressmark: 60.MM.57

Helen Ward
'A Time to Dance: in which a cricket learns about work the hard way' (The Ant and the Grasshopper)
2004
Ink, watercolour and gouache illustration
From 'Unwitting Wisdom: an Anthology of Aesop's animal fables'
Published by Templar, London.
National Art Library Pressmark: 60.MM.57

Helen Ward is known for her vibrant and dynamic picture books featuring birds or animals. She paints in watercolour and gouache, sometimes removing colour to achieve more tonal variety, and uses a Rapidograph pen for detail. She designs the whole page layout in her picture books, which she says can take about six months to make. Sometimes drawing from life, she also makes use of wildlife films to observe movement.

A major influence was the Ashmolean's Impey collection of Indian 18th century natural history paintings, which impressed her for the "crispness of the execution, and the fact that the drawing, though objective, is not entirely realistic".

Ward studied at Brighton Art School in the 1980s with ambitions to become a natural history illustrator. On graduating, she was approached by publisher Templar and has made illustrated books for them ever since. Recent work includes a contribution to Templar's 'Ologies' series, a picture book 'Wonderful Life' about a rodent who studies wildlife on another planet, and 'Varmints', soon to be an animated film about noise pollution.

Agnes Miller Parker, 'Of the Ant and of the Sygale' (The Ant and the Grasshopper)

Agnes Miller Parker, 'Of the Ant and of the Sygale' (The Ant and the Grasshopper), wood-engraved illustration. From 'The Fables of Esope: translated out of Frensshe in to Englysshe by William Caxton', about 1932. Published by Gregynog Press. National Art Library Pressmark: 95.T.41

Agnes Miller Parker
'Of the Ant and of the Sygale' (The Ant and the Grasshopper)
About 1932
Wood-engraved illustration from 'The Fables of Esope: translated out of Frensshe in to Englysshe by William Caxton'
Published by Gregynog Press.
National Art Library Pressmark: 95.T.41

This book reproduces the Aesop text of William Caxton (about 1422-1491), which he published in 1484. Probably from Tenterden in Kent, Caxton was the first printer in the English language. He published his first translation in 1474 in Bruges and set up a printing press at Westminster from 1476.

Gwendoline and Margaret Davies set up the Gregynog Press, or Gwasg Gregynog, in 1922 at their home, Gregynog Hall in Wales. They used traditional hot-metal typesetting and letterpress printing and illustrations by leading contemporary artists. Book illustrator Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) studied and later worked at Glasgow School of Art from 1911.

Joseph d'Ambrosio, silkscreen and block print illustration from 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper' by James Joyce

Joseph d'Ambrosio, silkscreen and block print illustration from 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper' by James Joyce, 1975. Published by Joseph d'Ambrosio and printed by The Compulsive Printer, Chicago. National Art Library Pressmark: 803.AD.0001

Joseph d'Ambrosio
1975
From 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper' by James Joyce
Silkscreen and block print illustration
Published by Joseph d'Ambrosio and printed by The Compulsive Printer, Chicago
National Art Library Pressmark: 803.AD.0001

This retelling of 'The Ant and the Grasshopper' fable comes from the novel 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce, published in 1939. The novel is written in a peculiar language involving wordplay. It includes a poem made up by the character Shaun called 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper', (Book 3, Chapter 1, p.414-419) crammed with puns and names of philosophers and insects.

This image was silkscreen and block printed. Silkscreen is based on stencilling. Ink is pressed through a fabric screen, with areas blocked off by stencils or photo emulsion. Seen on Japanese textiles at 19th century World Fairs, it was first used for signage, by artists from the 1930s. It is best known through work by later artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.
 

Joseph d'Ambrosio, Silkscreen and block print illustration

Joseph d'Ambrosio, Silkscreen and block print illustration, from 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper' by James Joyce, 1975. Published by Joseph d'Ambrosio and printed by The Compulsive Printer, Chicago. National Art Library Pressmark: 803.AD.0001

Joseph d'Ambrosio
1975
Silkscreen and block print illustration
From 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper' by James Joyce
Published by Joseph d'Ambrosio and printed by The Compulsive Printer, Chicago
National Art Library Pressmark: 803.AD.0001

This retelling of 'The Ant and the Grasshopper' fable comes from the novel 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce, published in 1939. The novel is written in a peculiar language involving wordplay. It includes a poem made up by the character Shaun called 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper', (Book 3, Chapter 1, p.414-419] crammed with puns and names of philosophers and insects.

This image was silkscreen and block printed. Silkscreen is based on stencilling. Ink is pressed through a fabric screen, with areas blocked off by stencils or photo emulsion. Seen on Japanese textiles at 19th century World Fairs, it was first used for signage, by artists from the 1930s. It is best known through work by later artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.

'The Ant & Grasshopper. Against Idleness', chromo-lithographed illustrations

'The Ant & Grasshopper. Against Idleness', chromo-lithographed illustrations, from 'The child's illuminated fable-book', 1847. Published by William Smith, London. National Art Library Pressmark: 60.V.25

'The Ant & Grasshopper. Against Idleness'
1847
Chromo-lithographed illustrations
From 'The child's illuminated fable-book'
Published by William Smith, London
National Art Library Pressmark: 60.V.25

This ornate image is chromolithography at its most elaborate. An expensive process using a different stone to print each colour, chromolithography was first used just to print one or two overall colours. Later it was used for luxury colour-illustrated gift books from about 1840. The most ornate designs had dozens of bright colours, silver and gold. Cheaper methods replaced chromolithography after 1880.

Lithography, invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798, works on the principle that oil and water repel each other. A design is drawn onto smooth limestone using a greasy medium. The stone is wet and oily ink is applied with a roller. It sticks to the greasy lines but avoids the wet parts of the stone.