Edmund Evans - Later Work and Retirement

Later Work and Retirement

Evans eventually converted to the three-colour printing technique. In 1902 he used the "recently developed Hentschel three-colour process", at Beatrix Potter's request, to print her watercolour illustrations for her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Towards the end of his career, not all of his work was devoted to the three-colour process; in 1902 he engraved and printed Old English Songs and Dances for W. Graham Robertson, which was described as "harmonious" and "delicate".

In 1892, Evans moved to Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, and turned the printing business over to his sons Wilfred and Herbert, although when he stopped engraving wood is unknown. During his last decade he wrote The Reminiscences of Edmund Evans, a short volume he described as "the rambling jottings of an old man". In that book Evans includes few details of his business practices and processes, and is significant because it adds to the scant information available on the colour printers of the era. In the 1960s, Ruari McLean edited the unrevised 102-page typescript released to him by Evans' grandson which was published by the Oxford University Press in 1967.

Evans died in 1905, and is buried in Ventnor cemetery. He was survived by his two sons and three daughters. The firm was bought in 1953 by W. P Griffith, Ltd; Evans' grandson Rex became managing director. Before his death Evans offered Beatrix Potter an interest in the company which she refused, having recently bought a farm in the Lake District.