The Early Years
She canvassed the London publishers for commissions for wood engravings, without success, until Heinemann commissioned her in 1936 to engrave the title page of her brother Christopher’s book of poems, Devil’s Dyke. She later discovered that her £5 fee had been deducted from her brother's royalties. She went on to illustrate a number of her brother's books, but the most important outcome for her was the commission to illustrate Francis Brett Young's Portrait of a Village (1937). She spent a great deal of time travelling around the area of Evesham and Pershore to make preliminary drawings for her wood engravings and produced a book that is generally considered to be one of her best.
In 1940 Hassall produced an equally successful set of wood engravings to illustrate Cranford by Mrs Gaskell. She carried out a great deal of research into the costumes of the period, and was able to make preparatory drawings of a suitably slim friend wearing period costumes from the extensive collection of Dr Willett Cunnington, who lived nearby.
Read more about this topic: Joan Hassall
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.”
—Henry Reed (1914–1986)
“Young fellows are tempted by girls, men who are thirty years old are tempted by gold, when they are forty years old they are tempted by honor and glory, and those who are sixty years old say to themselves, “What a pious man I have become.””
—Martin Luther (1483–1546)