329:, Yorkshire, in 1976. She had always suffered from bad health, which made it difficult to complete commissions and make a living. She had continued to live in her parents' house at 88 Kensington Park Road, and had had to take in lodgers to help maintain the house. In 1973 she inherited Priory Cottage, Malham, from an old friend, Greta Hopkins, and in 1976 she decided to retire there. Her eyesight was failing, and she was overwhelmed by money problems. She said in a letter to Tim Coombs "I often think how wonderful it would have been to live in 88 with an adequate income, as it was such a beautiful house, but it was a 24-year struggle to make ends meet."
374:
385:. Some are independent engravings, mostly produced at the beginning of her career; the vast majority, however, are illustrations for books. Producing these illustrations, along with commercial commissions, was how Hassall earned her living. Her work tends to the small and meticulously observed, rather than the large and dramatic, the vignette rather than the full-page plate. Her place in the history of wood engraving is that of the highly skilled and valued practitioner rather than the innovator.
211:
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
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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
173:
357:, her executor, said at her funeral: "Joan’s retirement at Malham was arguably the most happy period of her life." The warmth of his address typifies the feelings that Hassall's friends had for her. Another close friend, and former lodger at 88 Kensington Park Road,
470:(Winter 1974) contains a long autobiographical account of her life and work. Rosemary Addison's account of her connections with Scotland is both scholarly and accurate. There is a useful account of her life at Malham by W.R. Mitchell in
19:
105:
In 1931, to help out a friend because numbers for the class were dropping, she began evening classes in wood engraving at the London
Central School of Photo-engraving and Lithography in Fleet Street, where her teacher was
126:. 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
83:, and his early death affected her greatly. She addressed him as 'Topher' in her letters to him, until his wife, Eve, objected, whereupon she switched to 'Bruth'. Her portrait of Christopher is now in the
157:. 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
191:, 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
98:. Her experiences at a rough East London secondary school convinced her that she did not want to be a teacher. She worked as her father's secretary for two years and then attended the
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There are two collections of her wood engravings. The first, by Ruari McLean, was published in 1960; the second, a more definitive account by David
Chambers, was published in 1985.
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to produce the final design as there was not enough time to produce a wood engraving for such a large and complex design. She also designed the personal invitation that
44:. Her subject matter ranged from natural history through poetry to illustrations for English literary classics. In 1972 she was elected the first woman Master of the
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She had known Malham since 1932 and had many friends there. Friends made at London continued to visit her, she had her cats and she had her music (she played the
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262:. Hassall recalls that Linklater, after a rather liquid lunch, sat back after signing 20 copies and announced that he was going to sign the rest '
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Some of her work was quite high-profile. In 1948 Hassall designed the £1 postage stamp issued in commemoration of the Royal Silver
Wedding of
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347:
Malham was her life at the end and she invited two friends from there, Norman Cawood and
Barbara Hudson, to be her guests when she went to
306:. The edition has been reprinted many times by the Folio Society. Hassall had already worked for the society, illustrating two works by
400:, booklets for British Transport films, illustrations for magazines, etc.. Her style is easy to recognise, even when work is unsigned.
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by
Bernard Gooch, another book based on meticulous observation, Hassall's trademark. In the same year she created 43 illustrations for
236:. The wood engravings were, once again, based on drawings of models wearing authentic period costumes. 1947 saw the publication too of
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produced a limited edition of 50 copies of the latter, printed by Hague and Gill and bound by the London bookbinding firm of
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to make preliminary drawings for her wood engravings and produced a book that is generally considered to be one of her best.
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Under the direction of Brian North Lee, the Fleece Press published two collections of her letters, the first
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291:, where she had to produce some 150 wood engravings to blend in with the period stock blocks used by the
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Between 1957 and 1962 Hassall produced wood engravings for a seven-volume edition of the novels of
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Dearest Sydney: Joan
Hassall's letters to Sydney Cockerell from Italy and France, April–May 1950
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She canvassed the London publishers for commissions for wood engravings, without success, until
122:
commissioned her in 1936 to engrave the title page of her brother
Christopher's book of poems,
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76:, famous for his poster "Skegness is so bracing", and his second wife, Constance Brooke Webb.
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The period after the war was one of great activity for
Hassall. In 1946 she illustrated
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In 1940 Hassall produced an equally successful set of wood engravings to illustrate
110:. The discovery of wood engraving had a profound influence on the rest of her life.
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Reproductions of the chapbooks that
Hassall produced for the Saltire Society
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18:
408:
246:, a charmingly illustrated book that was reprinted several times, and of
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141:
266:'. None of these copies, if they exist, has ever come onto the market.
137:
532:
Dearest Joana: a selection of Joan Hassall's lifetime letters and art
462:
Dearest Joana: A Selection of Joan Hassall's Lifetime Letters and Art
460:(1991) in a limited edition of 220 copies, the second the two-volume
340:). She had the Methodist Chapel at Malham and the Anglican church at
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326:
136:(1937). She spent a great deal of time travelling around the area of
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Hassall's personal invitation to the Coronation for Prince Charles
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The £1 stamp designed by Hassall for the 1948 Royal Silver Wedding
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She produced a great deal of commercial and more ephemeral work –
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171:
17:
337:
720:
Hassall's invitation for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
280:; the wood engravings were used for several later editions.
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Her letters show how close she was to her younger brother,
430:. She won the competition to design the invitation to the
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When she returned to Kensington Park Road she had her own
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and other cards, menus and other printed material for
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Most of her work is wood-engraved, but she also used
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Some of the wood engravings for Jane Austen's novels
313:Her last major work was an edition of the poems of
283:Her skill came out strongly in the 1955 edition of
552:Joan Hassall's portrait of her brother Christopher
36:(3 March 1906 – 6 March 1988) was an English
790:W. R. Mitchell, 'Joan Hassall: wood engraver' in
204:publishers in whom she did not have confidence.
344:(her faith had always been important to her).
187:, a tutor of Book Illustration and Drawing at
72:, Joan Hassall was the daughter of the artist
642:More wood engravings for Jane Austen's novels
481:Joan Hassall, 'Illustrating Jane Austen', in
361:, gave the eulogy at her memorial service at
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613:Joan Hassall, 'Illustrating Jane Austen' in
199:, and established links with the publishers
177:The Marriage of Robin Redbreast and the Wren
862:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
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464:(2000) in a limited edition of 300 copies.
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592:An account of Hassall's time in Scotland
502:A Hundred Years of the Art Workers Guild
377:Queen Elizabeth II coronation invitation
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513:John Hassall's daughter visits Skegness
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867:People educated at Parsons Mead School
448:book gives full listings of her work.
381:Hassall's output consists largely of
94:and then trained as a teacher at the
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571:Joan Hassall, 'My engraved work' in
837:Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools
805:The wood engravings of Joan Hassall
534:(Denby Dale, Fleece Press, 2002),
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872:Masters of the Art Worker's Guild
773:(Netherton, Fleece Press, 1991),
48:and in 1987 was awarded the OBE (
670:(Wakefield, Fleece Press, 1989).
617:(Summer 1975), published by the
575:(Winter 1974), published by the
432:Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
336:, the organ, the flute and the
317:for the Limited Editions Club.
179:, Saltire Chapbook No. 4 (1945)
1:
750:Private Libraries Association
577:Private Libraries Association
369:An overview of Hassall's work
285:The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book
653:Illustration for Trollope's
485:(1975 Summer), pp. 3–9.
442:received to the coronation.
269:1950 saw the publication of
271:The Strange World of Nature
50:Order of the British Empire
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239:A Child's Garden of Verses
260:Sangorski & Sutcliffe
85:National Portrait Gallery
689:22 February 2012 at the
680:The dust jacket for the
668:Joan Hassall: an address
398:British Transport Hotels
189:Edinburgh College of Art
159:Cecil Willett Cunnington
809:Oxford University Press
293:Oxford University Press
275:The Collected Poems of
877:20th-century engravers
857:English wood engravers
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363:St Giles in the Fields
244:Robert Louis Stevenson
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707:10 March 2012 at the
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321:Malham and retirement
228:, and then, in 1947,
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168:The years in Scotland
133:Portrait of a Village
100:Royal Academy Schools
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852:English illustrators
748:(Pinner, Middlesex,
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351:to receive the OBE.
234:Mary Russell Mitford
183:During World War II
161:, who lived nearby.
62:Kensington Park Road
23:Joan Hassall in 1980
842:Artists from London
468:The Private Library
325:Hassall retired to
289:Iona and Peter Opie
128:Francis Brett Young
102:from 1928 to 1933.
92:Parsons Mead School
81:Christopher Hassall
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185:John Kingsley Cook
181:
46:Art Workers' Guild
26:
847:English engravers
769:Brian North Lee,
666:Brian North Lee,
530:Brian North Lee,
434:; she had to use
349:Buckingham Palace
256:Rupert Hart-Davis
252:Sealskin Trousers
201:Oliver & Boyd
96:Froebel Institute
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452:Further reading
446:David Chambers'
428:Queen Elizabeth
392:, letterheads,
383:wood engravings
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359:Norman Painting
355:Brian North Lee
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264:J. B. Priestley
218:
216:The later years
197:Saltire Society
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114:The early years
108:R. John Beedham
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74:John Hassall
66:Notting Hill
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29:Joan Hassall
28:
27:
15:
832:1988 deaths
827:1906 births
794:(May 1980).
300:Jane Austen
230:Our Village
155:Mrs Gaskell
60:Born at 88
821:Categories
490:References
390:bookplates
212:visitors.
209:hand press
752:, 1985),
394:Christmas
226:Mary Webb
193:chapbooks
120:Heinemann
56:Biography
811:, 1960).
705:Archived
687:Archived
308:Trollope
222:51 Poems
195:for the
150:Cranford
142:Pershore
302:by the
138:Evesham
777:
756:
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334:spinet
327:Malham
70:London
615:Folio
483:Folio
775:ISBN
754:ISBN
536:ISBN
426:and
417:oils
415:and
338:viol
140:and
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287:by
250:'s
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