William Humphrys (c. 1794 – 21 January 1865) was an engraver of pictures, book illustrations and postage stamps. Humphrys was born in Dublin. At an early age he moved to the United States where he studied engraving techniques under George Murray in Philadelphia.
/ref> He began his career as engraver in 1815 and was involved in the engraving of vignettes for bank notes and engravings for book illustrations. The illustrations in the books by poets Bryant and Longfellow were the work of Humphrys.Melville, Fred J, ''Postage Stamps in the Making'', 1916, Stanley Gibbons, p.68 He moved to England in 1823 where he worked on book illustrations for individual publishers. He then returned to the United States in 1843. Two years later he moved to Dublin to engrave "''The Reading Magdalene''" for the Royal Irish Art Union. Melville states that he did the engraving for the United States stamp with the portrait of Washington. Bacon, Edward Denny, The line-engraved postage stamps of Great Britain printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co.; a history of their production during the forty years, 1840-1880, (1920), p.140.
/ref> The Art of the Print webpage seems to put the engraving of the stamp before 1823. In the book by Fielding there is an undated reference to a book illustration by Humphrys called "''Early days of Washington''". In a report in The New York Times of 18 June 1922 A Hatfield Jr is quoted from his book "''There are indications which lead me to the opinion that the engraver was no other than that gifted British artist William Humphrys .... in his obituary notice in The Art Journal (1865) it is stated that he engraved the portrait of Washington for United States stamps. This might have referred to the first Government issue of 1847, but, if so, the same printers printed the 1845 New York stamps and the 1847 United States Government issue and may have employed the same engraver.''" It should be remembered that Humphrys moved to Dublin in 1845. He then came to England and was employed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. During his period of employment by Perkins Bacon he was responsible for the engraving of many of the classic stamps. At that time Perkins Bacon had the contract to produce stamps for the United Kingdom and for the many

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around the world. Humphrys engraved the head of Columbus for the first stamps of Chile. In 1854 he was given the task of re-engraving the Queen’s Head for the line-engraved 1d red-brown. The die he produced is known to philatelists as Die II or “Humphrys’s Retouch”.Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1 British Commonwealth, 1999 Some of the stamps that were engraved by William Humphrys are as follows: *

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– he engraved the die for the first issue (triangulars). *Ceylon. *New Zealand – he engraved the first stamps, known as the Full Face Queens or Chalons, including the central vignette.Stone, J.W.M., ''The Colonial and Foreign Dies of Perkins, Bacon & Co. 1847-85'', The London Philatelist, vol.78 no.915, 1969, p.65 *Van Diemen's Land, Tasmania – he engraved their early stamps, including a new larger vignette, working from a Cousins engraving and a watercolour by Edward Henry Corbould.Smith, Victor F., ''The Origin of the Large Chalon Head'', The London Philatelist, vol.100 no.1177-1178, 1991, p.8 *Queensland – reusing the large Chalon head from Van Diemen's Land, he engraved the dies for the first stamps used from 1860 to 1881 *St Helena. *South Australia - he engraved the dies for the first stamps issued in 1855 *Western Australia - he engraved the dies for the first stamps, the famous

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, issued in 1854 He gave up engraving and became an accountant to

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, typographical music and general printers, of London. In ill-health Humphrys went to Italy to recuperate. He had been invited by Alfred Novello, son of the founder of the company

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, to the Villa Novello in Genoa. On 21 January 1865, while he was still at the villa, he died aged seventy-one.Winchester, John, ''Lasting Impressions'', in "Stamp Magazine", February 2015, pp 40-45.

External links

* , engraving of a painting by

William Brockedon William Brockedon (13 October 1787 – 29 August 1854) was a 19th-century English painter, writer and inventor. Early life Brockedon was born at Totnes on 13 October 1787, son of a watchmaker. He was educated at a private school in Totnes, bu ...

for The Literary Souvenir annual for 1825, with a poem by

Felicia Hemans Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Regarded as the leading female poet of her day, Hemans was immensely popular during her lifetime in both England and the Unit ...

* , an engraving of the painting by

John Masey Wright John Masey Wright (1777–1866) was a British watercourist. He was the son of an organ-builder and was apprenticed to the same business, but, as it proved distasteful to him, he was allowed to follow his natural inclination for art. As a boy he ...

in The Literary Souvenir annual for 1826, with a poem by

* Engraving of the painting by

William Edward West William Edward West (1788 February 8, 1859) was an American painter, primarily of portraits. Family West was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1788. His father was a silversmith, and responsible for his early artistic training. In 1809 he moved t ...

in The Literary Souvenir annual for 1827, 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. Landon's writings are emblematic of the transition from Romanticism to Victorian literature. Her first major b ...

* Engraving of , by

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...

for The Bijou annual for 1828 with a poem by

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrys, William 1790s births 1865 deaths Immigrants to the United States 19th-century American engravers 19th-century Irish engravers Postal history Irish stamp designers 19th-century American illustrators