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

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

Life and career

He was the illegitimate son of

James Heath James Heath may refer to: * James Heath (historian) (1629–1664), English royalist historian * James Heath (engraver) (1757–1834), English engraver * James P. Heath (1777–1854), U.S. congressman from Maryland * James E. Heath (active since 18 ...

, a successful engraver who enjoyed the patronage of King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

and successive monarchs. Early in life he became a fellow of the

Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

, and contributed for some years to their exhibitions.

The American connection

Jacob Perkins Jacob Perkins (9 July 1766 – 30 July 1849) was an American inventor, mechanical engineer and physicist. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Perkins was apprenticed to a goldsmith. He soon made himself known with a variety of useful mechanical i ...

the American inventor developed

siderography Siderography is a mechanical process developed by Jacob Perkins in the early 1800s enabling the unlimited reproduction of engraved steel plates. The process enables the transfer of an impression from a steel plate to a steel cylinder in a rolling p ...

, a

steel engraving Steel engraving is a technique for printing illustrations based on steel instead of copper. It has been rarely used in artistic printmaking, although it was much used for reproductions in the 19th century. Steel engraving was introduced in 1792 by ...

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. 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.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. Initially Perkins and Heath used

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available ni ...

for the steel engraving, and shallow lines were an issue during the 1820s. They then jointly purchased rights to the etching fluid developed by

Wilson Lowry Wilson Lowry FRS (24 January 1762 – 23 June 1824) was an English engraver. Life He was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland, the son of Strickland Lowry, a portrait painter. The family settled in Worcester, and Wilson Lowry, as a boy, left home ...

. 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. It then assumed the name Perkins, Bacon or

Perkins Bacon Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co was a printer of books, bank notes and postage stamps, most notable for printing the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamps, in 1840. {{Infobox , above = Details on the mode of preventing the forgery ...

by which it is usually known.

Rights of engravers

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

An entrepreneur who sought out other new markets, Heath was a driving force behind, and contributor to, the new genre of the

literary annual Gift books, literary annuals, or keepsakes were 19th-century books, often lavishly decorated, which collected essays, short fiction, and poetry. They were primarily published in the autumn, in time for the holiday season and were intended to be g ...

. He established his own annual, ''

The Keepsake ''The Keepsake'' was an English literary annual which ran from 1828 to 1857, published each Christmas from 1827 to 1856, for perusal during the year of the title. Like other literary annuals, ''The Keepsake'' was an anthology of short fiction, poe ...

'', first published at the end of 1827, and approached

William Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...

to become its editor. His first choice had been

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

, then having money troubles. Scott had declined, but sent Heath some stories first intended for '' Chronicles of the Canongate''.

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. 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. 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 The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. ...

was designed by

William Wyon William Wyon (Birmingham 1795 – 29 October 1851), was official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death. Biography Wyon was born in Birmingham and, in 1809, was apprenticed to his father, Peter Wyon who was an engraver an ...

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

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. He was a noted if self-regarding illustrator of the

Waverley Novels The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe. Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the se ...

, and engraved ''Christ healing the Sick in the Temple'', one of

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', '' The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

's big scriptural paintings. After Richard Westall, he engraved illustrations to

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

's poems, published in 1819. As an engraver, Heath exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...

and Suffolk Street Gallery from 1801 to 1825. After 1828 he produced little work of his own, but his studio was productive through his pupils Doo and Watt, and his sons.

Thomas Garner Thomas Garner (1839–1906) was one of the leading English Gothic revival architects of the Victorian era. He is known for his almost 30-year partnership with architect George Frederick Bodley. Early life Born at Wasperton Hill Farm in Warw ...

was taken on by the studio in the 1820s, to work uncredited on annuals. 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. Heath initially commissioned, and the studio produced, the engraved series ''Picturesque Views in England and Wales'' by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

, eventually running to 100 watercolours by Turner for a

part publishing In literature, a serial is a printing or publishing format by which a single larger work, often a work of narrative fiction, is published in smaller, sequential instalments. The instalments are also known as ''numbers'', ''parts'' or ''fascic ...

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.

Family

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 Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

and other members of the royal family. Their daughter Fanny Jemima (died 1850) married in 1839

Edward Henry Corbould Edward Henry Corbould, R.I. (5 December 1815, in London – 18 January 1905, in London) was a British artist, noted as a historical painter and watercolourist. Life Born in London, he was son of Henry Corbould and grandson of Richard Corbo ...

, son of Henry Corbould.

References

External links

by J. J. Heath-Caldwell
Biography
(London Atelier of representational art)

at Romantic-Circles.org – about a poem

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's '' ...

contributed to '' The Keepsake for 1829'', which is partly about his contributions * * Engraving of the painting by Richard Westall with a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

in Forget Me Not annual for 1825. * Engraving of the painting by

Thomas Stothard Thomas Stothard (17 August 1755 – 27 April 1834) was an English painter, illustrator and engraver. His son, Robert T. Stothard was a painter ( fl. 1810): he painted the proclamation outside York Minster of Queen Victoria's accession to the t ...

made for Friendship's Offering annual for 1825 with illustrative verse by

. * Engraving of a drawing by T. M Wright, , made for The Literary Souvenir annual for 1825 and with illustrative verse by

. This is based on an illustration of Moritz Retzsch on

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

's Faust * Engraving of the painting by Richard Westall with a poem by Felicia Hemans in The Amulet annual for 1826. * , an engraving of a painting by Henry Singleton for the Forget Me Not annual, 1826, with a poem by Felicia Hemans * Engraving of a painting , by Gilbert Stuart Newton in The Literary Souvenir annual for 1826 with illustrative verse by

* Engraving of , by

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...

in The Keepsake annual for 1829 with ''Verses'' by

* Engraving of by Philip Francis Stephanoff with illustrative verse by

entitled ''Legendary Fragments'', in The Keepsake annual, 1831. * Engraving of , a painting by

Louisa Sharpe Louisa Sharpe (1798 – 28 January 1843) was a British miniature painter who was one of four gifted sisters Life Sharpe was born in Birmingham to Sussanna (born Fairhead?) and an engraver named William Sharpe and she was baptised on 21 August ...

for The Keepsake annual for 1832, with illustrative verse by

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Charles 1785 births 1848 deaths English engravers English publishers (people) English illustrators 19th-century British businesspeople