Dalziel Brothers

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Illustration of the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, by John Everett Millais, engaved by the Dalziels, from Parables of our lord (1864)
Illustration of the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, by John Everett Millais, engaved by the Dalziels, from Parables of our lord (1864)

The Dalziel Brothers were a highly productive firm of Victorian engravers founded in 1839 by Edward Dalziel (1817-1905), assisted by his brother George. They were later joined by John Dalziel and Thomas Dalziel (1823-1906). All were sons of a Northumbrian artist, Alexander Dalziel.

Caricature of Darwin contemplating a bustle, from Fun, 16th Nov, 1872
Caricature of Darwin contemplating a bustle, from Fun, 16th Nov, 1872

The Dalziel brothers worked with many important Victorian artists, producing illustrations for the burgeoning magazine and book market of the period.

Among the artists they worked with were Arthur Boyd Houghton, John Gilbert, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and James McNeill Whistler. They cut the illustrations to Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense (1862); Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

They also produced independent ventures, most notably The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, (Routledge, 1864), illustrated by Millais, and contributed humorous cartoons to magazines such as Fun, which George and Edward acquired in 1865.

Until the advent of photo-mechanical processes c 1880, they were pre-eminent in their trade. Examples of their work can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.


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