William Henry Pyne (1769
– 1843) The Costume of Great Britain dating from 1808.
The Costume of Great Britain is folio sized (11.5x15.5 inches) with 60 hand-engraved aquatints. In the first edition (1804) these were not coloured, the second edition 1808 had partially colored illustrations -mainly coloured backgrounds and the third edition had full colour illustrations. This is the one in the Charlecote library. He depicts people from every walk of life and gives us an insight into the working conditions at the beginning of the 19th Century. Lieutenant-colonel Charles Hamilton Smith was born into a Flemish family but was soon sent to Richmond in Surrey to get an education. In 1787 he returned to Flanders to study in a military academy and in 1797 joined a the British Dragoons in the West Indies where he became a brigade major. He twice came to Coventry working for Army recruitment. He also served in America and Canada but retired on half-pay in 1820 living in Plymouth. Wherever he was based he sketched and also gathered scientific information. He accumulated thousands of watercolour drawings and papers.These were not just costumes but scientific drawings. He is described by Wikipedia as English artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, soldier and spy. He is known for his Costume of the Army of the British Empire, Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands and The Ancient Costume of England (not in the Charlecote Library). He provided some of the illustrations for Jardine's Naturalist Library which is in the Charlecote library and the subject of another essay. The Ancient Costume of England traces the evolution of clothing, arms and decorations from the Anglo-Saxon Eighth century through to the reign of Henry VII, with images of men and women, royalty and peasants, occupations and pastimes, and even naval vessels. It was originally issued in 15 separate parts, 1811-13. Both books are in very good condition showing only a slight print-through of the hand-colored paintings onto the facing blank pages.
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As
a youngster William Henry Pyne showed he was a talented artist
with a preference for drawing people and their costumes as well as
their animals. He exhibited waterclours at the Royal Academy aged
21 and in 1841 helped to found the Society of Painters in Water Colours.
He was employed by the publisher, Rudolf Ackermann. However it was
a different publisher, William Miller, who commissioned The Costume
of Great Britain which Pyne wrote as well as illustrated. It contains
60 full-colour illustrations. Then with the help of the illustrators
Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin he produced for Rudolf Ackerman
The Microcosm of London (1810) containing 104 folio sized hand-coloured
aquatints. Pyne wrote the text.(This is not in the Charlecote Library).
Pyne also wrote for several journals but he was no good with money
and ended up in a debtors prison in 1828 and again in 1835. He died
eight years later after a long illness.
