Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Arthur A. Dixon

I've just started working on a new series of features for the Look and Learn blog looking at some of the artists whose work appears in the picture library. As there are over 11,000 artists represented in the library, it should keep me going for some while, especially as there is almost nothing known about some of them. Take, for instance, Arthur A. Dixon, who gets five lines in the Dictionary of British Book Illustrators. Now, I've managed to expand that to around 200 words, but to get there took an awful lot of digging around. In fact, I ended up with notes of around 1,300 words just to boil it down to 200. Waste not, want not. Here are my notes and you can see what I culled from them if you slip over to the Look and Learn blog.

Arthur Augustus Dixon. Born St. Pancras, London, 8 May 1872 and Baptized on 25 Sept. at All Saints, St. Pancras. Father was a grainer & marbler. Father died in Pancras in 1887. Mother died 1901.
1881 (8) Pancras, Richard (42), Rosa (39), Frederick Richard (10) Herbert Walter (4) Charles (1)
1891 (18) Islington with widowed mother Rosa (49), Frederick (20), Herbert W. (14)
1901 (28): lived in Islington with wife Cecil Elsie Dixon (34) and daughter Elsie Dixon (11 mo.)
Married Cecil Elsie Sowerby, in Steyning, Sussex, in 1899 and daughter Elsie born 1900.
Cecil E. Dixon d. 1955, Berkhamsted, Herts.
Arthur A. Dixon d. 1959, Berkhamsted, Herts.
Frederick Richard Dixon (b. 8 May 1870)
Herbert Walter Dixon (b. 1876)
Charles Dixon (b. 19 May 1879)

Illustrated Books
Cross Purposes; or, The Deanes of Dean's Croft by Emma Marshall. London, Griffith, Farran, Browne, 1899.
The Holly Tree by Charles Dickens. London, Ernest Nister, 1899?; New York, E. P. Dutton, 1899.
A Big Temptation by L. T. Meade (and others). London, Ernest Nister, 1900; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1900.
Bruno and Bimba: The story of some little people by Evelyn Everett-Green. London, Ernest Nister, 1900; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1900.
To Pay the Price by Silas K. Hocking. London, Frederick Warne, 1900.
The King's Butterfly by Evelyn Everett-Green. London, Ernest Nister, 1900.
Sunny Tales by Nora Hopper, etc., illus with others. London & New York, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1901?
Guardian Angels: Poems and Stories by Nora Hopper, illus. with others. London, Paris & New York, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1901.
A Princess's Token by Evelyn Everett-Green. London, Ernest Lister, 1902.
To the Rescue. A tale of a London 'prentice boy by Evelyn Everett-Graen. London, Ernest Nister, 1902; New York, E. P. Dutton, 1902.
The Secret of the Everglades. A story of adventure in Florida by Bessie Marchant. London, Blackie, 1903.
Henry Esmond by William Makepeace Thackeray. London, Collins Clear-Type Press, 1903.
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, 1903?
The Mystery of the Pine Wood; and, The Hollow Tree House by L. Molesworth. London, Ernest Nister, 1903; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1903.
Child Characters from Dickens retold by L. L. Weedon. London, Ernest Nister, 1905; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1905.
Christmas at Bracebridge Hall by Washington Irving. London, Ernest Nister, 1905; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1905.
Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1905.
Little Lady Val by Evelyn Everett-Green. London, Ernest Nister, 1905.
The Swiss Family Robinson. The journal of a father shipwrecked with his wife and children on an uninhabited island by J. Wyss, translated from the German by M. Wiss. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1905.
Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawathorne. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1905.
The Last Days of Pompeii by Lord Lytton. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, 1905?
A Noble Life by Mrs Craik. London & Glasgow, Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1905?
North and South by Mrs. Gaskell. London & Glasgow, Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1905?
The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. London, Ernest Nister, 1906; New York, E. P. Dutton, 1906.
Songs of Faith and Hope, illus. with others. London, Ernest Nister, 1906.
Mother's Little Man by Mary D. Brine. London, Ernest Nister, 1906?
A Daughter of the Ranges: A story of Western Canada by Bessie Marchant. London, Blackie & Son, 1906.
In a Land of Beasts by E. Everett-Green. London & Glasgow, Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1906.
The Boy Hero of Erin: The story of Cuchulainn and the champion of the Red Branch of Ulster re-told by Charles Squire. London, Blackie & Son, 1907.
Evangeline: A tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. London, Ernest Lister, 1907.
Tales of a Fairy Court by Andrew Lang. London & Glasgow, Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1907.
Pamela's Hero. A tale of the Gordon Riots by Pamela Moore. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1908.
The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte M. Yonge. London, Collins, 1908?
The Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold. London, Collins, 1908?
Fairy Tales by Edouard Laboulaye. London, Ernest Lister, 1909.
Good Comrades: A story of a little German boy and his dog by M.S.S. London, Blackie & Son, 1909.
The Third Class of Miss Kaye's by Angela Brazil. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1909.
The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley. London, Ernest Nister, 1908; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1908.
Fairy Tales by Wilhelm Hauff, translated by L. L. Weedon. London, Ernest Lister, 1910.
The King's Liege. A story of the days of Charles I by H. A. Hinkson. London, Blackie & Son, 1910.
The Nicest Girl in the School. A story of school life by Angela Brazil. London, Blackie & Son, 1910.
The Poetical Works of John Keats. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, 1910?
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas. London, Collins Clear-Type Press, 1910?
The All Fairy Book. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, n.d. (1910s?). [dustwrapper]
The Count of Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, n.d. (1910s?).
Hereward the Wake by Charles Kingsley. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, n.d. (1910s?).
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, n.d. (1910s?).
Les Misterables by Victor Hugo. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, n.d. (1910s?).
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, n.d. (1910s?)
The Professor at the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, n.d. (1910s?).
The Manor House School by Angela Brazil. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1911.
The Red Knights by G. I. Witham. (London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1911).
The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for Children by Charles Kingsley. London, Blackie & Son, 1911?
Terry the Girl-Guide by Dorothea Moore, foreword by Anges Baden-Powell. London, James Nisbet & Co., 1912.
The Basket of Flowers: A Tale for the Young from the German (Das blumenkörbchen) of Christoph von Schmid. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1912?
Shakespeare Stories for Children by E. Nesbit, illus. with others. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1912? 
Children's Stories from Longfellow by Doris Ashley, illus. with others. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1914.
Children's Stories from Tennyson by Nora Chesson, illus. with others. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1914.
Schoolgirls and Scouts by Elsie Oxenham. London & Glasgow, Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1914.
Stories from the Bible by T. W. Wilson. London, Blackie & Son, 1914.
Fairy Fancies. London & Glasgow, Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1914?
When Auntie Lil Took Charge by May Wynne. London, Blackie & Son, 1915.
Tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Doris Ashley. London, (Raphael Tuck?), n.d. (c.1915?)
Children's Stories from Russian Fairy Tales and Legends translated and adapted by Seraphima Pulman, edited by Capt. Edric Vredenburg. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1917.
The Children's Jesus by E. B. Trist. London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919; New York, Macmillan, 1919.
The Abbey Girls by Elsie Oxenham. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1920.
Ungava. A tale of Esquirimaux land by R. M. Ballantyne. London & Glasgow, Collins Clear-Type Press, 1920?
The Precious Gift: Bible stories for Children by T. W. Wilson. London, Blackie, 1922.
Fairy Tales for the Schoolroom, illus. with others. London, The Gresham Publishing Company, 1923.
The Candle of the North. Stories from the Venerable Bede by C. M. D. Jones. London & Oxford, A. R. Mowbray & Co., 1924.
Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving, illus. with H. M. Brock. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1924.; Philadelphia, David McKay, 1924.
Granny's Wonderful Chair by Frances Browne, (London & Glasgow, Collins, 1925).
Tom Brown's Scooldays by an Old Boy (Thomas Hughes). London, Butcher, n.d.
Pictures from the Old Testament. With descriptive text and Bible references. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1953.

(* pics © Look and Learn Ltd.)

5 comments:

  1. Wow, what a terrific summary. You're right, very little is known about some artists and illustrators who were actually very significant in their time. This page represents a ton of research. Congratulations, thank you for such a fine effort.

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  2. The Precious Gift: Bible stories for Children by T. W. Wilson was originally published in hardback in 1922. T.W. Wilson was dead by 1960, she died in 1941. Arthur A Dixon definitely did the illustrations for the First edition, if Blackie published one in 1960 it was most probably a later reprint.

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  3. Hi fallen121,

    So noted. I didn't have any confirmation of an earlier edition when I compiled the list.

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  4. just read your commentary on Arthur A Dixon - I have one of his watercolours 'David Copperfield out with little Emily' which I bought 30 years. Love it and thanks for your research.

    MaryMF

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  5. Thank you for this helpful summary of Arthur A Dixon with books listd, who I just looked up after purchasing an antiquarian book from Oxfam, called Sheaves of Gold. This has some Arthur A Dixon illustrations in it. It is an odd book, (children's stories from the Old Testament) as no dates or even authors' or illustrators' names are recorded, but I spotted Arthur Dixon's name on some (not all) of the illustrations in there. Published by Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton probably just before the 1st World War.

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