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{{Short description|British engraver, currency and stamp printer, book publisher and illustrator}}
{{other people}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2011}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2011}}
[[File:Heath - Silvia.jpg|thumb|Silvia (character from "[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]", 1849, engraving after [[John William Wright]])]]
[[File:Heath - Silvia.jpg|thumb|Silvia (character from "[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]", 1849, engraving after [[John William Wright]])]]
[[File:Saighton Grange.jpg|thumb|[[Saighton Grange]] (1817, engraving after [[George Pickering]])]]
[[File:Saighton Grange.jpg|thumb|[[Saighton Grange]] (1817, engraving after [[George Pickering (painter)|George Pickering]])]]
[[File:Heath- Vue de Louvre.jpg|thumb|View of the Louvre (1831, engraved after [[Augustus Charles Pugin]])]]
[[File:Heath- Vue de Louvre.jpg|thumb|View of the Louvre (1831, engraved after [[Augustus Charles Pugin]])]]
'''Charles Theodosius Heath''' (1 March 1785 – 18 November 1848) was an [[England|English]] [[Engraving|engraver]], currency and stamp printer, book publisher and [[illustrator]].
'''Charles Theodosius Heath''' (1 March 1785 – 18 November 1848) was a British [[Engraving|engraver]], currency and stamp printer, book publisher and [[illustrator]].


==Life and career==
==Life and career==


He was the illegitimate son of [[James Heath (engraver)|James Heath]], a successful engraver who enjoyed the patronage of King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] and successive monarchs. Early in life he became a fellow of the [[Society of British Artists]], and contributed for some years to their exhibitions.<ref name="dnb">{{cite DNB|no-icon=1|prescript=|volume=25|pages=340-1|url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionarynatio51stepgoog#page/n353/mode/1up|title=Heath, Charles (1785-1848)}}</ref>
He was the illegitimate son of [[James Heath (engraver)|James Heath]], a successful engraver who enjoyed the patronage of King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] and successive monarchs. Early in life he became a fellow of the [[Society of British Artists]], and contributed for some years to their exhibitions.<ref name="dnb">{{cite DNB|no-icon=1|prescript=|volume=25|pages=340-1|url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionarynatio51stepgoog#page/n353/mode/1up|title=Heath, Charles (1785-1848)}}</ref>


===The American connection===
===The American connection===
[[Jacob Perkins]] the American inventor developed [[siderography]], a [[steel engraving]] technique, and in 1809 met [[Joseph Chessborough Dyer]], an American who moved to England and acted as Perkins's agent. Perkins went to England in 1819, with his eldest son Ebenezer and associates, to bid for a [[Bank of England]] contract to print banknotes. He gained the contract.<ref name="Perkins">{{cite ODNB|id=21967|first=Anita|last=McConnell|title=Perkins, Angier March}}</ref> Heath had encouraged Perkins to come to England.
[[Jacob Perkins]] the American inventor developed [[siderography]], a [[steel engraving]] technique, and in 1809 met [[Joseph Chessborough Dyer]], an American who moved to England and acted as Perkins's agent. Perkins went to England in 1819, with his eldest son Ebenezer and associates, to bid for a [[Bank of England]] contract to print banknotes. He gained the contract.<ref name="Perkins">{{cite ODNB|id=21967|first=Anita|last=McConnell|title=Perkins, Angier March}}</ref> Heath had encouraged Perkins to come to England.


From 1819 Charles Heath and then (1820) his half-brother George Heath (1779–1852) were in partnership with Perkins, working with the new technique of siderography. Charles Heath replaced Asa Spencer, a partner of Perkins who returned to the United States, while George Heath was a financial backer. Perkins and his other American partner Gideon Fairman were in the United Kingdom for a period. With finance from Dyer for a printing press, the company traded as Perkins, Fairman, and Heath.<ref name="Perkins"/><ref name="Ledbetter">Kathryn Ledbetter, ''"The Copper and Steel Manufactory" of Charles Heath'', Victorian Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (2002), pp. 21–30, at p. 24. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. {{jstor|27793493}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mackenzie|first=A. D.|title=The Bank of England Note: A History of Its Printing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoA8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA65|accessdate=16 July 2018|year=1953|publisher=CUP Archive|page=65}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hunnisett|first=Basil|title=Engraved on Steel: The History of Picture Production Using Steel Plates|date=1998-01-01|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=9780859679718|page=40}}</ref> Initially Perkins and Heath used [[nitric acid]] for the steel engraving, and shallow lines were an issue during the 1820s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunnisett|first=Basil|title=Steel-Engraved Book Illustration in England|year=1980|publisher=David R. Godine|isbn=9780879233228|page=[https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/48 48]|url=https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/48}}</ref> They then jointly purchased rights to the etching fluid developed by [[Wilson Lowry]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=17103|first=Mary|last=Guyatt|title=Lowry, Wilson}}</ref>
From 1819 Charles Heath and then (1820) his half-brother George Heath (1779–1852) were in partnership with Perkins, working with the new technique of siderography. Charles Heath replaced Asa Spencer, a partner of Perkins who returned to the United States, while George Heath was a financial backer. Perkins and his other American partner Gideon Fairman were in the United Kingdom for a period. With finance from Dyer for a printing press, the company traded as Perkins, Fairman, and Heath.<ref name="Perkins"/><ref name="Ledbetter">Kathryn Ledbetter, ''"The Copper and Steel Manufactory" of Charles Heath'', Victorian Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (2002), pp. 21–30, at p. 24. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. {{JSTOR|27793493}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mackenzie|first=A. D.|title=The Bank of England Note: A History of Its Printing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoA8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA65|year=1953|publisher=CUP Archive|page=65}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=[[Basil Hunnisett|Hunnisett]]|first=Basil|title=Engraved on Steel: The History of Picture Production Using Steel Plates|date=1998-01-01|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=9780859679718|page=40}}</ref> Initially Perkins and Heath used [[nitric acid]] for the steel engraving, and shallow lines were an issue during the 1820s.<ref>{{cite book|last=[[Basil Hunnisett|Hunnisett]]|first=Basil|title=Steel-Engraved Book Illustration in England|year=1980|publisher=David R. Godine|isbn=9780879233228|page=[https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/48 48]|url=https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/48}}</ref> They then jointly purchased rights to the etching fluid developed by [[Wilson Lowry]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=17103|first=Mary|last=Guyatt|title=Lowry, Wilson}}</ref>


Joshua Butters Bacon (1790–1863), son-in-law of Perkins who settled in England, bought out the Heath interest in the company, by mid-1829.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunnisett|first=Basil|title=Steel-Engraved Book Illustration in England|year=1980|publisher=David R. Godine|isbn=9780879233228|page=[https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/165 165]|url=https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/165}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Schultz|first=Jane E.|title=This Birth Place of Souls: The Civil War Nursing Diary of Harriet Eaton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KqVNJzWKaLAC&pg=PA231|accessdate=16 July 2018|date=2010-11-10|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199780730|page=231}}</ref> It then assumed the name Perkins, Bacon or [[Perkins Bacon]] by which it is usually known.
Joshua Butters Bacon (1790–1863), son-in-law of Perkins who settled in England, bought out the Heath interest in the company, by mid-1829.<ref>{{cite book|last=[[Basil Hunnisett|Hunnisett]]|first=Basil|title=Steel-Engraved Book Illustration in England|year=1980|publisher=David R. Godine|isbn=9780879233228|page=[https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/165 165]|url=https://archive.org/details/steelengravedboo0000hunn/page/165}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Schultz|first=Jane E.|title=This Birth Place of Souls: The Civil War Nursing Diary of Harriet Eaton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KqVNJzWKaLAC&pg=PA231|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199780730|page=231}}</ref> It then assumed the name Perkins, Bacon or [[Perkins Bacon]] by which it is usually known.


===Rights of engravers===
===Rights of engravers===
Line 22: Line 23:


===Annuals===
===Annuals===
An entrepreneur who sought out other new markets, Heath was a driving force behind, and contributor to, the new genre of the [[literary annual]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=65036|first=John|last=Heath|title=Heath family}}</ref> He established his own annual, ''[[The Keepsake]]'', first published at the end of 1827, and approached [[William Harrison Ainsworth]] to become its editor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Frederic Mansel|title=The Keepsake for 1829|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAe5asdYINwC&pg=PA14|accessdate=15 July 2018|date=2006-06-09|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=9781551115856|pages=14–5}}</ref> His first choice had been [[Sir Walter Scott]], then having money troubles. Scott had declined, but sent Heath some stories first intended for ''[[Chronicles of the Canongate]]''.<ref name="Scott">{{cite web|url=http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/portraits/engravers/cheath.html|title=Charles Heath (1785–1848), www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk|accessdate=16 July 2018}}</ref>
An entrepreneur who sought out other new markets, Heath was a driving force behind, and contributor to, the new genre of the [[literary annual]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=65036|first=John|last=Heath|title=Heath family}}</ref> He established his own annual, ''[[The Keepsake]]'', first published at the end of 1827, and approached [[William Harrison Ainsworth]] to become its editor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Frederic Mansel|title=The Keepsake for 1829|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAe5asdYINwC&pg=PA14|year=2006|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=9781551115856|pages=14–5}}</ref> His first choice had been [[Sir Walter Scott]], then having money troubles. Scott had declined, but sent Heath some stories first intended for ''[[Chronicles of the Canongate]]''.<ref name="Scott">{{cite web|url=http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/portraits/engravers/cheath.html|title=Charles Heath (1785–1848), www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk|accessdate=16 July 2018}}</ref>


===Later life===
===Later life===
Heath was successful in business, with some serious difficulties, but in the 1840s encountered cash flow problems, and sold stock from his back catalogue to stay afloat.<ref name="ODNB"/> He persisted in trying to interest the Bank of England in engraving work, though paper money was less needed after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.<ref name="Ledbetter"/> [[Henry Corbould]] as designer. Charles Heath (engraver), and George Heath (financial backer) contracted for paper money and postage stamps with several governments. The [[Penny Black]] was designed by [[William Wyon]], Corbould and Heath.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chesterton|first=G. K.|title=Twelve Types: A Collection of Mini-Biographies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXglCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT109|accessdate=16 July 2018|date=2002-12-01|publisher=IHS Press|isbn=9781605700236|pages=109 note 6}}</ref>
Heath was successful in business, with some serious difficulties, but in the 1840s encountered cash flow problems, and sold stock from his back catalogue to stay afloat.<ref name="ODNB"/> He persisted in trying to interest the Bank of England in engraving work, though paper money was less needed after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.<ref name="Ledbetter"/> [[Henry Corbould]] as designer. Charles Heath (engraver), and George Heath (financial backer) contracted for paper money and postage stamps with several governments. The [[Penny Black]] was designed by [[William Wyon]], Corbould and Heath.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chesterton|first=G. K.|title=Twelve Types: A Collection of Mini-Biographies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXglCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT109|year=2002|publisher=IHS Press|isbn=9781605700236|pages=109 note 6}}</ref>


Among Heath's pupils were [[George Thomas Doo]] (1800–1886), [[William Henry Mote]] (1803&ndash;1871), and [[James Henry Watt]] (1799–1867).<ref name="dnb" />
Among Heath's pupils were [[George Thomas Doo]] (1800–1886), [[William Henry Mote]] (1803&ndash;1871), and [[James Henry Watt]] (1799–1867).<ref name="dnb" />
Line 31: Line 32:
==Works==
==Works==
Heath received training in engraving from his father James, and his first known etching dates from when he was six years old. It was from his father that he learnt how to produce small plates suitable for book illustration.<ref name="dnb"/> He was a noted if self-regarding illustrator of the [[Waverley Novels]], and engraved ''Christ healing the Sick in the Temple'', one of [[Benjamin West]]'s big scriptural paintings.<ref name="Scott"/><ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=West, Benjamin|volume=60}}</ref> After [[Richard Westall]], he engraved illustrations to [[Lord Byron]]'s poems, published in 1819.<ref>Fiona Wilson, ''"Virt'ous Fraud": The Perverse Politics of the "Caritas Romana" Scene in "Childe Harold"'', Keats-Shelley Journal Vol. 54 (2005), pp. 93–112, at pp. 109–110. Published by: Keats-Shelley Association of America, Inc.
Heath received training in engraving from his father James, and his first known etching dates from when he was six years old. It was from his father that he learnt how to produce small plates suitable for book illustration.<ref name="dnb"/> He was a noted if self-regarding illustrator of the [[Waverley Novels]], and engraved ''Christ healing the Sick in the Temple'', one of [[Benjamin West]]'s big scriptural paintings.<ref name="Scott"/><ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=West, Benjamin|volume=60}}</ref> After [[Richard Westall]], he engraved illustrations to [[Lord Byron]]'s poems, published in 1819.<ref>Fiona Wilson, ''"Virt'ous Fraud": The Perverse Politics of the "Caritas Romana" Scene in "Childe Harold"'', Keats-Shelley Journal Vol. 54 (2005), pp. 93–112, at pp. 109–110. Published by: Keats-Shelley Association of America, Inc.
{{jstor|30213108}}</ref>
{{JSTOR|30213108}}</ref>


As an engraver, Heath exhibited at the [[Royal Academy]] and [[Suffolk Street Gallery]] from 1801 to 1825.<ref>{{cite book|last=Press|first=Oxford University|title=Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05C02RhJZCkC&pg=PA536|accessdate=15 July 2018|date=2012-06-21|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=9780199923052|page=536}}</ref> After 1828 he produced little work of his own, but his studio was productive through his pupils Doo and Watt, and his sons.<ref name="ODNB"/> [[Thomas Garner (engraver)|Thomas Garner]] was taken on by the studio in the 1820s, to work uncredited on annuals.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=10387|first=Greg|last=Charles|title=Garner, Thomas}}</ref> As did his competitor [[Edward Finden]], Heath outsourced work to a substantial group of engravers into the 1830s and 1840s, and employed a production line technique with division of labour.<ref>Kathryn Ledbetter, ''"The Copper and Steel Manufactory" of Charles Heath'', Victorian Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (2002), pp. 21–30, at p. 26. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. {{jstor|27793493}}</ref>
As an engraver, Heath exhibited at the [[Royal Academy]] and [[Suffolk Street Gallery]] from 1801 to 1825.<ref>{{cite book|last=Press|first=Oxford University|title=Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05C02RhJZCkC&pg=PA536|year=2012|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=9780199923052|page=536}}</ref> After 1828 he produced little work of his own, but his studio was productive through his pupils Doo and Watt, and his sons.<ref name="ODNB"/> [[Thomas Garner (engraver)|Thomas Garner]] was taken on by the studio in the 1820s, to work uncredited on annuals.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=10387|first=Greg|last=Charles|title=Garner, Thomas}}</ref> As did his competitor [[Edward Finden]], Heath outsourced work to a substantial group of engravers into the 1830s and 1840s, and employed a production line technique with division of labour.<ref>Kathryn Ledbetter, ''"The Copper and Steel Manufactory" of Charles Heath'', Victorian Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (2002), pp. 21–30, at p. 26. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. {{JSTOR|27793493}}</ref>


Heath initially commissioned, and the studio produced, the engraved series ''Picturesque Views in England and Wales'' by [[J. M. W. Turner]], eventually running to 100 watercolours by Turner for a [[part publishing]] project from 1827 to 1838. This collection has been considered a central part of Turner's opus, by Andrew Wilton, but in business terms was not a great success in its time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/picturesque-views-in-england-and-wales-watercolours-r1184335#entry-main|title='Picturesque Views in England and Wales' Watercolours c.1826-38 (J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours), Tate website|accessdate=16 July 2018}}</ref>
Heath initially commissioned, and the studio produced, the engraved series ''Picturesque Views in England and Wales'' by [[J. M. W. Turner]], eventually running to 100 watercolours by Turner for a [[part publishing]] project from 1827 to 1838. This collection has been considered a central part of Turner's opus, by Andrew Wilton, but in business terms was not a great success in its time.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/picturesque-views-in-england-and-wales-watercolours-r1184335#entry-main|title='Picturesque Views in England and Wales' Watercolours c.1826-38 (J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours), Tate website|date=26 February 2017 |isbn=9781849763868 |accessdate=16 July 2018|last1=(Gallery) |first1=Tate Britain }}</ref>


==Family==
==Family==
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==External links==
==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.jjhc.info/heathcharles1848.htm Short biography] by J. J. Heath-Caldwell
* [http://www.jjhc.info/heathcharles1848.htm Short biography] by J. J. Heath-Caldwell{{fv|date=August 2024}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111006063925/http://www.drawpaintsculpt.com/artist-biographies/heath-charles/ Biography] (London Atelier of representational art)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111006063925/http://www.drawpaintsculpt.com/artist-biographies/heath-charles/ Biography] (London Atelier of representational art)
* [http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/lel/girl.htm 'Commentary on "The Country Girl"&nbsp;'] at Romantic-Circles.org – about a poem [[Wordsworth]] contributed to ''[[The Keepsake |The Keepsake for 1829]]'', which is partly about his contributions
* [http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/lel/girl.htm 'Commentary on "The Country Girl"&nbsp;'] at Romantic-Circles.org – about a poem [[Wordsworth]] contributed to ''[[The Keepsake|The Keepsake for 1829]]'', which is partly about his contributions
* {{LCAuth|n84229907|Charles Heath|29|ue}}
* {{LCAuth|n84229907|Charles Heath|29|ue}}
* Engraving of the painting {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Forget Me Not, 1825/The Parting Charge|The Parting Charge]]}} by [[Richard Westall]] with a poetical illustration by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] in Forget Me Not annual for 1825.
* Engraving of the painting {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Friendship’s Offering, 1825/Home|Home]]}} by [[Thomas Stothard]] made for Friendship's Offering annual for 1825 with illustrative verse by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]].
* Engraving of a drawing by T. M Wright, {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Literary Souvenir, 1825/The Decision of the Flower|The Decision of the Flower]]}}, made for The Literary Souvenir annual for 1825 and with illustrative verse by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]]. This is based on an illustration of [[Moritz Retzsch]] on [[Goethe]]'s Faust
* Engraving of the painting {{ws|[[s:Poems of Felicia Hemans in The Amulet, 1826/The Hebrew Mother|The Hebrew Mother]]}} by [[Richard Westall]] with a poem by [[Felicia Hemans]] in The Amulet annual for 1826.
* {{ws|[[s:A Poem of Felicia Hemans in The Forget Me Not, 1826/Evening Prayer at a Girls’ School|Evening Prayer at a Girls’ School]]}}, an engraving of a painting by [[Henry Singleton (painter)|Henry Singleton]] for the Forget Me Not annual, 1826, with a poem by [[Felicia Hemans]]
* Engraving of a painting {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Literary Souvenir, 1826/The Forsaken|The Forsaken]]}}, by [[Gilbert Stuart Newton]] in The Literary Souvenir annual for 1826 with illustrative verse by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]]
* Engraving of {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Keepsake, 1829/Verses|Georgiana. Duchess of Bedford]]}}, by [[Edwin Landseer]] in The Keepsake annual for 1829 with ''Verses'' by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]]
* Engraving of {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Keepsake, 1831/Legendary Fragments|The Knight and the Lady]]}} by [[Philip Francis Stephanoff]] with illustrative verse by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] entitled ''Legendary Fragments'', in The Keepsake annual, 1831.
* Engraving of {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Keepsake, 1832/Do You Remember It?|Do You Remember It?]]}}, a painting by [[Louisa Sharpe]] for The Keepsake annual for 1832, with illustrative verse by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]].
* Engraving of {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Keepsake, 1833/The Adieu|The Adieu]]}}, a painting by [[Alfred Edward Chalon]] for The Keepsake, 1833, with illustrative verse by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]].


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:English publishers (people)]]
[[Category:English publishers (people)]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:19th-century British businesspeople]]

Latest revision as of 21:46, 13 August 2024

Silvia (character from "The Two Gentlemen of Verona", 1849, engraving after John William Wright)
Saighton Grange (1817, engraving after George Pickering)
View of the Louvre (1831, engraved after Augustus Charles Pugin)

Charles Theodosius Heath (1 March 1785 – 18 November 1848) was a British engraver, currency and stamp printer, book publisher and illustrator.

Life and career

[edit]

He was the illegitimate son of James Heath, a successful engraver who enjoyed the patronage of King George III and successive monarchs. Early in life he became a fellow of the Society of British Artists, and contributed for some years to their exhibitions.[1]

The American connection

[edit]

Jacob Perkins the American inventor developed siderography, a steel engraving technique, and in 1809 met Joseph Chessborough Dyer, an American who moved to England and acted as Perkins's agent. Perkins went to England in 1819, with his eldest son Ebenezer and associates, to bid for a Bank of England contract to print banknotes. He gained the contract.[2] Heath had encouraged Perkins to come to England.

From 1819 Charles Heath and then (1820) his half-brother George Heath (1779–1852) were in partnership with Perkins, working with the new technique of siderography. Charles Heath replaced Asa Spencer, a partner of Perkins who returned to the United States, while George Heath was a financial backer. Perkins and his other American partner Gideon Fairman were in the United Kingdom for a period. With finance from Dyer for a printing press, the company traded as Perkins, Fairman, and Heath.[2][3][4][5] Initially Perkins and Heath used nitric acid for the steel engraving, and shallow lines were an issue during the 1820s.[6] They then jointly purchased rights to the etching fluid developed by Wilson Lowry.[7]

Joshua Butters Bacon (1790–1863), son-in-law of Perkins who settled in England, bought out the Heath interest in the company, by mid-1829.[8][9] It then assumed the name Perkins, Bacon or Perkins Bacon by which it is usually known.

Rights of engravers

[edit]

Charles Heath believed that custom entitled engravers to make and keep a limited number of impressions of their work. When he was sued by the publisher, John Murray, in 1826, as a result of having made and kept such impressions, he relied on that supposed custom, but, in 1830, a jury denied its existence. Then, in 1831, the judges of the Court of King's Bench held that his conduct had been unlawful at common law, though not a breach of the Prints Copyright Act 1777.

Annuals

[edit]

An entrepreneur who sought out other new markets, Heath was a driving force behind, and contributor to, the new genre of the literary annual.[10] He established his own annual, The Keepsake, first published at the end of 1827, and approached William Harrison Ainsworth to become its editor.[11] His first choice had been Sir Walter Scott, then having money troubles. Scott had declined, but sent Heath some stories first intended for Chronicles of the Canongate.[12]

Later life

[edit]

Heath was successful in business, with some serious difficulties, but in the 1840s encountered cash flow problems, and sold stock from his back catalogue to stay afloat.[10] He persisted in trying to interest the Bank of England in engraving work, though paper money was less needed after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.[3] Henry Corbould as designer. Charles Heath (engraver), and George Heath (financial backer) contracted for paper money and postage stamps with several governments. The Penny Black was designed by William Wyon, Corbould and Heath.[13]

Among Heath's pupils were George Thomas Doo (1800–1886), William Henry Mote (1803–1871), and James Henry Watt (1799–1867).[1]

Works

[edit]

Heath received training in engraving from his father James, and his first known etching dates from when he was six years old. It was from his father that he learnt how to produce small plates suitable for book illustration.[1] He was a noted if self-regarding illustrator of the Waverley Novels, and engraved Christ healing the Sick in the Temple, one of Benjamin West's big scriptural paintings.[12][14] After Richard Westall, he engraved illustrations to Lord Byron's poems, published in 1819.[15]

As an engraver, Heath exhibited at the Royal Academy and Suffolk Street Gallery from 1801 to 1825.[16] After 1828 he produced little work of his own, but his studio was productive through his pupils Doo and Watt, and his sons.[10] Thomas Garner was taken on by the studio in the 1820s, to work uncredited on annuals.[17] As did his competitor Edward Finden, Heath outsourced work to a substantial group of engravers into the 1830s and 1840s, and employed a production line technique with division of labour.[18]

Heath initially commissioned, and the studio produced, the engraved series Picturesque Views in England and Wales by J. M. W. Turner, eventually running to 100 watercolours by Turner for a part publishing project from 1827 to 1838. This collection has been considered a central part of Turner's opus, by Andrew Wilton, but in business terms was not a great success in its time.[19]

Family

[edit]

Heath married his cousin Elizabeth Petch. Two of their sons, Frederick (1810–1878) and Alfred (1812–1896), were engravers and another, Henry Charles Heath (1829–1898), was a miniature painter who portrayed Queen Victoria and other members of the royal family.[20] Their daughter Fanny Jemima (died 1850) married in 1839 Edward Henry Corbould, son of Henry Corbould.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1891). "Heath, Charles (1785-1848)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 25. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 340–1.
  2. ^ a b McConnell, Anita. "Perkins, Angier March". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21967. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b Kathryn Ledbetter, "The Copper and Steel Manufactory" of Charles Heath, Victorian Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (2002), pp. 21–30, at p. 24. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. JSTOR 27793493
  4. ^ Mackenzie, A. D. (1953). The Bank of England Note: A History of Its Printing. CUP Archive. p. 65.
  5. ^ Hunnisett, Basil (1 January 1998). Engraved on Steel: The History of Picture Production Using Steel Plates. Ashgate. p. 40. ISBN 9780859679718.
  6. ^ Hunnisett, Basil (1980). Steel-Engraved Book Illustration in England. David R. Godine. p. 48. ISBN 9780879233228.
  7. ^ Guyatt, Mary. "Lowry, Wilson". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17103. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. ^ Hunnisett, Basil (1980). Steel-Engraved Book Illustration in England. David R. Godine. p. 165. ISBN 9780879233228.
  9. ^ Schultz, Jane E. (2010). This Birth Place of Souls: The Civil War Nursing Diary of Harriet Eaton. Oxford University Press. p. 231. ISBN 9780199780730.
  10. ^ a b c Heath, John. "Heath family". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65036. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  11. ^ Reynolds, Frederic Mansel (2006). The Keepsake for 1829. Broadview Press. pp. 14–5. ISBN 9781551115856.
  12. ^ a b "Charles Heath (1785–1848), www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk". Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  13. ^ Chesterton, G. K. (2002). Twelve Types: A Collection of Mini-Biographies. IHS Press. pp. 109 note 6. ISBN 9781605700236.
  14. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). "West, Benjamin" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 60. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  15. ^ Fiona Wilson, "Virt'ous Fraud": The Perverse Politics of the "Caritas Romana" Scene in "Childe Harold", Keats-Shelley Journal Vol. 54 (2005), pp. 93–112, at pp. 109–110. Published by: Keats-Shelley Association of America, Inc. JSTOR 30213108
  16. ^ Press, Oxford University (2012). Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators. OUP USA. p. 536. ISBN 9780199923052.
  17. ^ Charles, Greg. "Garner, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10387. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  18. ^ Kathryn Ledbetter, "The Copper and Steel Manufactory" of Charles Heath, Victorian Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (2002), pp. 21–30, at p. 26. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. JSTOR 27793493
  19. ^ (Gallery), Tate Britain (26 February 2017). 'Picturesque Views in England and Wales' Watercolours c.1826-38 (J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours), Tate website. ISBN 9781849763868. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  20. ^ Charles Heath biography.
  21. ^ Mallalieu, Huon. "Corbould, Edward Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32568. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Further reading

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