Joan Hassall - The Years in Scotland

The Years in Scotland

During World War II Kingsley Cook, a tutor of Book Illustration and Drawing at Edinburgh College of Art, suggested that Joan Hassall act as his replacement, a post that she accepted. This was a time that was, in many ways, profitable for Hassall. She was commissioned to produce a series of chapbooks for the Saltire Society, and established links with the publishers Oliver & Boyd that led to a number of commissions. She designed all aspects of the chapbooks, including the typography, and went on to be responsible for the overall design of some of her other books. She was, at times, very critical of how her work was reproduced in books, and turned down commissions from publishers in whom she did not have confidence.

When to returned to Kensington Park Road she had her own hand press and produced a range of ephemeral publications over the years – chapbooks, Christmas cards, fliers for the local Anglican church et al – as well as using it to print her wood engravings. She took her press with her to Malham, and carried on pulling proofs of her wood engravings to present to visitors.