Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam “with Decorations by William G. Easton” was published by George G. Harrap & Co., London, in 1910. It was actually undated, but its publication was announced in The Bookseller on 14 October of that year (p.1348.) It is Potter #74 & Paas ##2102-8 (1). Using FitzGerald’s first version, its frontispiece & title–page are shown in Fig.1a, the frontispiece illustrating quatrain 8, but having the appearance of an illustration from a Victorian or Edwardian Fairy Book were it not for the turbaned figure of Omar in the upper right, with his floral Beloved beside him. In similar style, Fig.1b is a decoration showing a vine leaf with a bunch of grapes and another curiously fairy–like figure (the Spirit or Daughter of the Vine ?), and opposite it, a blank frame, presumably intended to incorporate a bookplate or gift inscription (2), these immediately preceding the frontispiece and title–page. Fig.1c shows a typical two–page–spread of text with Easton’s intricate decorative borders and elaborated initial letters. As the issue of The Bookseller quoted above tells us, the original of the frontispiece was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1910 – in fact, as the exhibition catalogue confirms, it was exhibited in the Black and White Room, as exhibit #1269, “Illustration to ‘Rubaiyat’ of Omar Khayyam.” [The illustrations can be browsed here.]
Easton is a shadowy figure. He gets no mention in Brigid Peppin and Lucy Micklethwait’s Book Illustrators of the Twentieth Century (1984), for example, nor in Alan Horne’s Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators (1995). Nor, despite having exhibited at the Royal Academy, did his death find a mention in The Times, only in the following brief obituary of him in The South London Observer on 10 June 1954 (p.4). Under the heading “Mr. W.G. Easton” it read:
A World War I volunteer and a freelance commercial artist whose hobby was portrait painting, Mr William G. Easton (75) died at home at 32, Ashbourne–grove, East Dulwich.
Mr Easton who was born in Poplar, and lived for many years in Chiswick, moved to Dulwich over 40 years ago. He was buried on Tuesday at Camberwell New Cemetery.
The chief mourners included Mrs W.G. Easton (widow), Mrs M. Witton of Coulsdon (daughter), and Mr C. Easton of Raynes Park (brother).
Brief as this is it gives us some guidelines for gleaning more about the artist from newspaper archives and ancestry records.
William George Easton was born on 30 May 1879 at Poplar, East London. The 1901 UK Census gives a good snapshot of him in the context of his family, then living in Southwark, London. Aged 21 he was listed as “Draughtsman (Litho)”. His father William, aged 50, was a retired police officer, and his mother Mary (née Mackie) was aged 46. He had an older sister, Mary Ellen, a dressmaker, aged 24; a younger brother Charles, a cycle salesman, aged 19 (= Mr. C. Easton in the above–quoted obituary); and another younger brother, Reginald, still at school, aged 13.
As regards that “Draughtsman (Litho)” listing, according to the useful “Artists Biographies” website (3), Easton “was apprenticed as a lithographic draughtsman and studied at the London County Council Bolt School of Photo-Engraving and Lithography, and later progressed to the South Kensington Schools under Innes Fripp, and the City and Guilds of London Art School.” Unfortunately, no dates are given and my contacts with the modern descendants of the various Schools haven’t managed to unearth any.
In the summer of 1910, at Camberwell, London, Easton married Amelia Sophia Hamilton, and in the 1911 UK Census they were living in Bedford Park, West London. He was aged 31 and listed as “Designer and Illustrator” in Publishing, working on his own account (ie freelance.) His new wife was aged 25. On 12 May 1911 their daughter Marian Amelia Easton was born. Tragedy struck in 1913 when their second daughter, Beatrice Helen Easton, was born but died aged only 8 months.
In November 1920, William George Easton, artist, aged 41, was initiated into the Selwyn Lodge of Freemasons.
In the 1921 UK Census, our artist and his family were living at 32 Ashbourne Grove, East Dulwich, the address given in the obituary quoted above. He was listed as “Advertisement Artist” working for Carlton Studio, at Carlton House, Great Queen Street, Kingsway, London WC2. His wife’s occupation was given as “Home Duties” (= housewife) and their daughter Marian Amelia Easton was aged 10, and so was still at school. (Marian was to marry Walter Olaf Witton in 1940, hence the Witton in the above quoted obituary. and was herself to become a commercial artist.)
The Carlton Studio was a commercial art studio founded in London in 1902 which engaged numerous artists to produce illustrations and advertising graphics for a wide variety of clients including Boots the Chemist, the magazine Woman’s Own and the British Empire Marketing Board. (This last was a government department which ran from 1926 to 1933, its aim being to promote the sale of goods produced within the British Empire.) But Easton worked for more than one agency. Working for the London Press Exchange, he was also involved in producing advertisements sponsored by the Brewers’ Society to promote beer sales (3). These used the slogan “Beer is Best” and they featured country–wide in newspapers from about 1933 and well into the 1940s in association with different breweries. Though many of the adverts were illustrated, the illustrations were unsigned, so it is now quite impossible to ascertain which were by Easton (4). Fortunately a reproduction of one of his originals has survived in a two–part article written by Easton himself, “Scraperboard in Advertising”, published in the monthly English magazine The Artist in July and August 1951 (p.101–3 & p.136–7.) It is shown, with its caption, in Fig.2a and is from the July article. From that same article are Fig.2b and Fig.2c, and from the August article, Fig.2d and Fig.2e (L.P.E. in these last two presumably signifying the London Press Exchange mentioned above.) I reproduce all of these here simply because they are such rare examples of Easton’s known works for advertising, plus one is an example of his skills in portraiture – George Bernard Shaw is instantly recognisable without the caption – and all are good examples of his skilled work in the difficult medium of scraperboard. [The illustrations can be browsed here.]
But to return to biographical details, in Paris in 1937 Easton was awarded a Diploma at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (3). This event was held from 25 May to 25 November that year, and featured pavilions exhibiting work by artists and craftsmen from numerous countries, including Britain, Italy, Germany and Spain.
In the 1939 Register of England and Wales, Easton, his wife, and daughter were all living together at 32 Ashbourne Grove. He and his daughter were listed as “Commercial Artist”, with his wife again relegated to “unpaid domestic duties” – a housewife, in other words.
William George Easton died on 1 June 1954, his wife following him in 1957. Their daughter Marian, by now Witton, died in 1958, her husband, Walter Olaf Witton, in 1981. They had had a son, Alan Massey Witton, born in 1943, and fortunately I was able to contact him. Though he was only young at the time of his grandfather’s death, he still has fond memories of him and his studio:
Grandpa Easton was famous within his circle as the artist who created the fastidious line drawings of dogs which used to adorn the advertisements for Bob Martin’s products. They may still be using Grandpa Easton’s dogs to this day for all I know, and if not, the loss is theirs alone. These drawings, some pinned to easels and others lying in untidy heaps, festooned my grandfather’s upstairs studio where he worked constantly, almost up to the time of his death.
This was the first I had heard of Easton doing adverts for Bob Martin products. Unfortunately none of these original drawings has survived, a loss which Alan thinks must have occurred when his grandmother moved house after his grandfather’s death. Of his grandmother, Alan wrote:
Granny Easton, who was brought up as a fairly strict Presbyterian in a London Scottish family, delighted us all in finding ways to get round the rude words which her religion sternly forbade her from using. She had a pet and completely artificial swear–word – “Blidge!” she would exclaim if she dropped something. It didn’t mean anything, but in her voice it sounded really impressive! And if she was warning us against the hot dishes while serving the dinner, she would describe them as “hotter than the hottermost hobs of.....”, leaving her hearers to supply the final h–word to complete the alliteration. (I have a vague idea what would have happened if I had piped up “Do you mean Hell, Granny?” She would have fixed my mother with a steely glare over her equally steely spectacles and demanded “Did you teach this young man to use words like that, Marian?” I never was tempted to try it).
As regards their house, the above–mentioned 32 Ashbourne Grove, which was semi–detached:
Despite the appearance of suburban grace conveyed by that description, Grandpa and Granny Easton’s house was the only one I ever knew (and possibly one of the last ones in Dulwich) still to be lit by gas, a circumstance which I found novel long before I discovered that electricity was the modern way of lighting buildings!..... There is a family legend that, shortly after the Ashbourne Grove house was finally converted to electric lighting, there was a power cut. Grandpa Easton was upstairs in the studio, working by artificial light with the blinds drawn, and he was totally disoriented by the darkness. A plaintive sound was heard wafting down the stairs as he sought help from his wife: “Millie! Millie! I'm lost! Come and find me!”
Thus did she of “unpaid domestic duties” rescue her “Commercial Artist” husband! (Actually, on the artistic front, Millie – as her husband called her – had a reputation as an expert needlewoman.)
Though such details as these add little to our knowledge of Easton’s artistic career, they certainly form a charming personal backdrop to the proceedings.
Of course I asked Alan if he had any photographs of his grandfather, but alas no. These seem to have gone the way of the Bob Martin drawings.
As stated above, Easton exhibited the original of his Rubaiyat frontispiece at the Royal Academy in 1910, his first exhibit there.
In 1916 he exhibited two works, both oil paintings, “A Water Carrier” (exhibit #853) and “Miss Elsie Hamilton” (exhibit #893). The former is shown in Fig.3, the artist’s initials W.G.E. being just about visible in the bottom right hand corner, inside the girl’s shadow. No image of the latter is available, though, and the identity of Elsie Hamilton is a mystery. She could conceivably have been Elsie Hamilton, a fairly well-known composer in her day, not to mention follower of Rudolf Steiner and his Anthroposophical Society – basically a breakaway group of Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society. Though Australian by birth, Hamilton lived in Paris and in 1916 was in England to attend a series of lectures by musicologist Kathleen Schlesinger on “The Occult Aspect of Music”. However, Easton’s wife’s maiden name was Hamilton, and she had a younger sister Elsie, so the portrait could certainly be of her.
In 1917 Easton exhibited an engraving or drawing “Dusk” (exhibit #1301) and in 1923 a tinted drawing “Cynthia” (exhibit #1110), this being the last of his five appearances at the Royal Academy. It is not known whether Cynthia refers to the Greek Goddess Artemis, the Cynthia who captivated the Roman poet Propertius, or a lady of Easton’s acquaintance. No images are available of either work.
Within a few years of doing his Rubaiyat, Easton went on to illustrate two books for children or young people.
The first, essentially an adventure story for boys in which the hero was called Tommy Talisker, was Gordon Stables’s book The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds, published by Blackie and Son Ltd, London. It was undated, but probably came out in September 1912 (5) – certainly my copy was a Sunday School Prize presented in December 1915, so it must pre–date that. It contained four black and white illustrations, and though Easton is not named on the title–page, his signature is clearly visible in them. Two examples are shown here as Fig.4a (the frontispiece – signature bottom right) and Fig.4b (facing p.84 – signature bottom left.)
The second, essentially an Arabian Nights type adventure, was G.E. Farrow’s book The Mysterious Shin Shira published by Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton. Again it was undated, but most probably came out in October 1913 (6) – certainly my copy was a School Examination Prize presented in July 1916, so it must pre–date that. It contained a coloured frontispiece, five other coloured plates, and a dozen in–text black and white illustrations. The frontispiece and title–page are shown in Fig.5a, and as can be seen Easton is duly credited as illustrator on the rather neat title–page. A second colour plate is shown in Fig.5b (facing p.38.) Two of the black and white illustrations are shown here as Fig.5c (p.86) and Fig.5d (p.94). To my mind Easton’s black and white line drawings are more effective than his colour illustrations, which perhaps suggests that, like a number of other illustrators, Easton was better in black and white than in colour. (Presumably the illustrations in The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds are black and white photographic reproductions of similar coloured originals.)
As can be seen these illustrations are very different in style to those in Easton’s Rubaiyat, and one regrets that he didn’t venture further in his Rubaiyat with drawings in the style of Fig.5d and the imagination of Fig.1a, but alas, he didn’t. [The illustrations can be browsed here.]
The next – and seemingly last – book in which Easton was involved was The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle 1834–1934, fittingly published by the T.U.C.in London in 1934, a century on from the six martyrs famously being sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for forming a trade union. (Such were the protests, that they were pardoned in 1836.) The book contained one cartoon each by David Low & Will Dyson, sketch maps and portraits by Frank Horrabin, and four coloured plates & numerous drawings by W.G. Easton, as well as a variety of illustrations taken from The Illustrated London News, the National Portrait Gallery & other sources. The four coloured plates were signed W.G. Easton, two examples being shown here as Fig.6a (facing p.31) and Fig.6b (facing p,163). Of the many black and white in–text drawings, some are unsigned, others signed with the initials W.G.E., and some with the full signature W.G. Easton. Three examples are shown here as Fig.6c (p.14), Fig.6d (p.40) and Fig.6e (p.101). [The illustrations can be browsed here.]
The Tolpuddle book was a labour of love rather than a commercial venture, the collaborative effort of many people offering their services for free in a good cause. David Low and Will Dyson were both well–known for their left–wing political cartoons, and Frank Horrabin was an active socialist, one–time Labour M.P., and lesser known political cartoonist. It would be interesting to know how Easton fitted into this picture, but alas no information is available at present.
Though Easton was not named as the illustrator on the title–page of The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds, his signature at the foot of the illustrations was clear enough to enable his naming in the likes of online library catalogues. Less readily identifiable is his hand in A Book of Children’s Verse, arranged by Mabel and Lilian Quiller–Couch, and illustrated in colour by M. Etheldreda Gray. It was first published by Humphrey Milford : Oxford University Press in 1911, with a reprint in 1920. Their rather neat title–page is shown in Fig.7a, with the easily missed signature W.G.Easton in a small box amid the foliage just to the left of the name HUMPHREY. Miss that, as many library catalogues and book dealers’ lists do, and Easton’s involvement is lost. Their cover design is shown in Fig.7b (colours & bindings vary). The similarity to the design of the title–page is clear, and though Easton’s signature is not in evidence, one does wonder if that too was by him.
This example raises the prospect that there might be other examples of Easton’s work out there waiting to be recognised. Hopefully more will emerge over time.
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Note 1: A parallel edition was also issued in the USA in 1910 by H.M. Caldwell Co., Boston, this being listed under Potter #74 and as Paas ##588–90. Again undated, contemporary newspaper advertisements show the publication date to have been in 1910.
Note 2: Gift inscriptions, particularly in editions of The Rubaiyat, can often be rather poignant, if puzzling, as well as useful as regards dating the book they are in. The inscription in my copy is shown in Fig.8. It is actually a quotation from A Winter’s Tale 4.4.399–402, and one cannot help but wonder what significance it held for the giver and receiver of the book, and why it was inscribed in this copy of The Rubaiyat. It is dated 1915, so some years after publication.
Note 3: At https://www.artbiogs.co.uk/ the site covers British and Irish Artists of the 20th Century.
Note 4: For anyone interested in the history of advertising, these make an interesting study, their ploys ranging from the “real men drink beer” approach (Fig.9a) to that of “beer is a drink for all the family” (Fig.9b), and from the comedy gimmick (Fig.9c) to beer as a promoter of health (Fig.9d). It is a pity that these cannot be attributed to specific commercial artists. [The illustrations can be browsed here.]
Note 5: The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds was first published by Blackie in October 1889 (The Bookseller 9 October 1889, p.1067 col.2), with 4 illustrations by a different (unnamed) artist – the illustrations are signed “J.A.T.B”. = J.A.T. Bonnar. In the issue of 20 September 1912 (p.1240 col.2) The Bookseller announced: “STABLES (Gordon) The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds. Re–issue. Cr.8vo. pp.224. Blackie.” No mention of any illustrator. Another edition was announced in The Bookseller on 10 December 1925 (p.260 col.1) “with frontispiece”, no artist named. Enquiries at the National Library of Scotland revealed that this edition, a copy of which was acquired by them in January 1926, contained only a coloured frontispiece by “M.M.”
Note 6: In the issue of 17 October 1913 (p.1474 col.1) The Bookseller announced: “FARROW (G.E.) The Mysterious Shin Shira. Illustrated. Imp. 16mo, p.160. H.Frowde.”
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I must particularly thank Alan Witton for the background information he supplied about his grandfather, William George Easton, and also Emma Boyd, Reference Services Assistant at the National Library of Scotland, for supplying the information about their 1925 edition of The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds, cited in note 5 above. Finally I must thank Joe Howard for proof reading this article and making some useful comments on it.
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