Alan Reynolds Stone,
CBE,
RDI (13 March 1909 – 23 June 1979) was an
English wood engraver,
engraver, designer,
typographer and painter.
Biography
Stone was born on 13 March 1909 at
Eton College, where both his grandfather, E. D. Stone, and father, E. W. Stone, were assistant masters.
[Kenneth Clark, ''Reynolds Stone: engravings'' (London, John Murray, 1977), .] He was educated there and at
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...
, where he obtained a degree in history in 1930.
He had no clear idea of his future, and, at the suggestion of Francis Scott, a young don at Magdalene, almost drifted into a two-year apprenticeship at the
Cambridge University Press, where he came under the influence of Walter Lewis and, more importantly, F. G. Nobbs, the overseer of the composing department.
[ Nobbs, to quote Stone, 'whisked me out of the hand-composing room into his office' where he taught him to appreciate letter design. A chance encounter with Eric Gill on the London to Cambridge train led to Stone spending a fortnight with Gill at Piggotts in Speen, Buckinghamshire engraving an alphabet on wood.][J. W. Goodison, ''Reynolds Stone: his early development as an engraver on wood'' (Cambridge University Press, 1947).]
In 1932 he moved to Taunton, where he spent two years working at the printing firm of Barnicott & Pearce, a very different experience from his time in Cambridge.[ His experience of printing convinced him that this was not what he wanted to do for rest of his life. At Taunton he came across some old wood blocks which Barnicott gave him, and, in a bookshop at Combwich, he started to buy the wood engraved books of the 1850s and 1860s. He had already come across the wood engravings of Thomas Bewick at Cambridge, and, in 1934, 'sacked himself' and became a freelance wood engraver, moving to Codicote near ]Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842.
History
Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...
.[
He married the photographer Janet Woods in 1938. They had four children – the painter Edward Stone (1940), the designer Humphrey Stone (1942), the illustrator ]Phillida Gili
Phillida Gili is a British children's book illustrator. One of her best-known works is a 1992 pop-up version of ''The Nutcracker''.
Biography
Phillida Gili is the daughter of Reynolds Stone and Janet Woods. He was a wood engraver, engraver, des ...
, and Emma Beck, wife of artist Ian Beck
Ian Archibald Beck (born 17th of August 1947 in Hove) is an English children's illustrator and author. In addition to his numerous children's books, he is also known for his cover illustration on Elton John's ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' albu ...
. His wife had a 30 year long relationship with Kenneth Clark.
The family were friends of the poet Cecil Day-Lewis
Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis; 27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972), often written as C. Day-Lewis, was an Irish-born British poet and Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Bla ...
and his family. In 2017 his son, the actor Daniel Day-Lewis named the character of his final film 'Reynolds Woodcock', as a reference to him, and his typeface designs were used for the titles of the film.
He was elected a member of the Society of Wood Engravers in 1948. In 1953 he was appointed a CBE and moved to the Old Rectory in Litton Cheney near Dorchester, where he lived until his death.
Commercial work
Stone's output was considerable. Nearly all of his contemporaries would have seen his work, although few knew his name. A common sight in most high streets was the logo that he designed for Dolcis and which featured on the frontage of all their shoe shops.
In 1949 he redesigned the famous clock logo of '' The Times''.
He engraved the Royal Arms for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 and the official coat of arms for Her Majesty's Stationery Office in 1955, still reproduced today on the cover of the UK passport.[
He also designed the coat of arms for the British Council.
He designed a number of ]Royal Mail
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, type = Public limited company
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, founder = Henry VIII
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postage stamps, starting with the 1946 Victory stamp.
He designed the £5 and £10 bank notes respectively in 1963 and 1964 – including the Queen's portrait – for the Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
.
Stone is perhaps best known for his lettering. Stanley Morison, the typographer, valued him above all for this ability and said to him: ''anyone can draw trees''. Stone's lettering was hugely admired and he worked in many media.
In 1939 Stone started to teach himself to cut letters in stone. His expertise in lettering led to a number of prestigious commissions for memorials.
In 1952 he carved the memorial tablet to employees of the museum who died in World War II in the Grand Entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum. This memorial complements the Eric Gill memorial to employees who died in World War I. In 1965 he carved the memorial to Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in Westminster Abbey. In 1966 he carved the memorial for T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
in the abbey. One of his latest works, in 1977, was the gravestone of composer Benjamin Britten.
In 1954 he designed the ''Minerva'' typeface for Linotype, intended to complement Gill's ''Pilgrim'' in display sizes. He also designed a proprietary face named after his wife, Janet.
In 1956 Stone was elected as a Royal Designer for Industry for his work in Lettering.
Wood engravings and book illustrations
Stone was a self-taught wood engraver, which makes his achievements more remarkable. He had little difficulty moving from the graver and tools of the wood engraver to the chisel and mallet of the stone carver. Most of the commissions discussed above were wood engravings, as was most of his work.
His bookplates are distinguished particularly by the flowing elegance of the lettering. He produced over 350,[ for example for Hugh Trevor-Roper, depicting his home Chiefswood, and for John Sparrow, a nice example of his skill with letters. He had a very good eye for coats of arms, as shown by commissions from the Royal Family and the British Government as well as private individuals.
His work stood out from that of other wood engravers, who illustrated more books than Stone. Many of his commissions were for single engravings, even for books. It was a mark of distinction to have a Stone engraving on the title-page or colophon.
He did, however, illustrate a number of books treasured by collectors.
In 1935 he produced 42 headpieces for ''The Shakespeare Anthology'' for the Nonesuch Press and, in the same year, 12 wood engravings for ''A Butler's Recipe Book 1719'' for the Cambridge University Press. For the ]Gregynog Press
The Gregynog Press, also known as Gwasg Gregynog, is a printing press and charity located at Gregynog Hall near Newtown in Powys, Wales.
Early years
Founded in 1922 by the sisters and art patrons Margaret and Gwendoline Davies, guided by Thom ...
he illustrated ''The History of Saint Louis'' (1937) and ''The Praise and Happinesse of the Countrie-Life'' (1938), the latter being particularly successful. In the same year he illustrated ''Old English Wines and Cordials'' for the High House Press. He illustrated ''Lucretia Borgia'' for the Golden Cockerel Press in 1942.
One of his most successful editions for a commercial publisher was an anthology compiled by Adrian Bell, ''The Open Air'' (1949).
Sylvia Townsend Warner
Sylvia Nora Townsend Warner (6 December 1893 – 1 May 1978) was an English novelist, poet and musicologist, known for works such as ''Lolly Willowes'', '' The Corner That Held Them'', and ''Kingdoms of Elfin''.
Life
Sylvia Townsend Warner wa ...
wrote poems to complement a series of wood engravings that Stone had already completed. The result was ''Boxwood'' (1957), a limited edition of 500 copies, an extended new edition of which was published in 1960. Stone continued with ''A Sociable Plover'' by Eric Linklater (1957) and ''The Skylark and other poems'' by Ralph Hodgson (1958).
For the Limited Editions Club he illustrated Herman Melville's ''Omoo'' in 1961. He also illustrated ''Saint Thomas Aquinas'' (1969) and ''The Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson'' (1974) for the club.
In 1968 the Chilmark Press published an edition of ''The Mountains'', a volume of poetry and prose by R. S. Thomas
Ronald Stuart Thomas (29 March 1913 – 25 September 2000), published as R. S. Thomas, was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest ( Church of Wales) noted for nationalism, spirituality and dislike of the anglicisation of Wales. John Betjeman, introduc ...
to complement a series of wood engravings made by Stone after John Piper in 1946.
Stone illustrated a number of books and portfolios for Warren Editions. The first was ''The Other Side of the Alde'' (1968), the first use of his ''Janet'' typeface. This was followed by ''ABC, an Alphabet'' (1974), ''The Old Rectory'' (1976) and a posthumous new edition of ''Boxwood'' (1983).
For the Compton Press he illustrated ''A Shepherd's Life'' by W. H. Hudson
William Henry Hudson (4 August 1841 – 18 August 1922) – known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson – was an English Argentines, Anglo-Argentine author, natural history, naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist.
Life
Hudson was the ...
(1977) and ''A Year of Birds'' by Iris Murdoch (1978).
His last engraving was the only one he managed to complete of a series to illustrate a republication of Sacheverell Sitwell's book Valse Des Fleurs, published in a limited edition of 400 copies in 1980. It appears on the title page of the book, and a tailpiece woodcut is published at the end.
An overview of his life and work
There was a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Dorset County Museum
The Dorset County Museum is located in Dorchester, Dorset, England. Founded in 1846, the museum covers the county of Dorset's history and environment. The current building was built in 1881 on the former site of the George Inn. The building wa ...
in 1981, followed by a major exhibition of his work in the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum between July and October 1982.[Roy Strong (ed.), ''Reynolds Stone 1909-1979'' (London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982).] Another, to honour the centenary of his birth, was held at The Red House, Aldeburgh, in April 2009.
His skills were widely recognised and much in demand. Much of his work was for official bodies, so much so that Hans Schmoller
Hans Peter Schmoller (9 April 1916 – 25 September 1985) was a German and British graphic designer who worked as Head of Typography and Design at Penguin Books from 1949 to 1976. During his Penguin years he played a crucial role in postwar B ...
wrote of him in his obituary: ... ''he might almost be described as the 'Engraver Royal.
His wood engravings showed a clarity of vision and an intensity that his preparatory sketches lacked.[ His wood engraved illustrations are distinguished by a formality and sureness of cutting, and his bookplates and coats of arms by a clarity and simplicity within the flourishes.
Stone said of his work: ''One bold flourish is usually better than a larger number of small twiddles, which are not worth doing anyway. But the final danger is to do too much because the eye, delighted by a small mouthful, is soon surfeited.''
]
Collections
There have been two collections of Stone's wood engravings, the first by Myfanwy Piper, the second, more definitive, with an introduction by Kenneth Clark.[ Michael Harvey has written about his wood engraved lettering.
The catalogue of the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition][ reprints the Goodison text][ and two pieces by Stone, and gives a comprehensive list of the whole range of Stone's work. David Chambers has produced a checklist of his bookplates,] and Jeremy Malin has produced a very full checklist of his published works.
There is an official website dedicated to Stone.
See also:
* Alan Powers, 'Reynolds Stone - A centenary tribute' and Humphrey Stone, 'Reynolds Stone: lettering', both in ''Parenthesis''; 16 (2009 February), p. 6–8 and 9–10.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Reynolds
1909 births
1979 deaths
English engravers
British illustrators
English wood engravers
People educated at Eton College
English typographers and type designers
20th-century engravers