Title page

Title page

Paul Woodroffe

Photomechanical reproduction of pen and ink drawing.

5 x 3 ¼ inches

Songs from the Plays of Shakespeare , illustrated title-page.

Woodroffe produced numerous decorative borders, usually in the congested style of Arts and Crafts illustration, and this design in a good example. Though closely linked to Art Nouveau, the density of the image invokes the rusticity of Morris. The linkage of Shakespeare, Songs and Woodroffe, all printed in red, is an elegant, suggestive touch, implying that the artist is as true a lyricist as the author.

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Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]