Bookplates by Andy English

1. Joan English 1991

Size: 30 x 60 mm
Medium: Wood engraving
Notes: This was one of the very first blocks that I engraved and
it was definitely an experiment rather than a serious attempt.
The woodblock was low quality and my handling of the graver
very unskilled. I engraved the name on the block and doodled plants around it.
The block was an early experiment and not intended to be used.
My wife is still waiting for her bookplate!

2. Andy English 1993


Size: 100 x 100 mm
Medium: Wood Engraving
Notes: This image is engraved on two blocks; a natural "D" of boxwood
and a smaller, separate, piece at the bottom shaped to complete the "round".
This image is particularly important to me, showing my own
children but also representing my elder brother and myself before
he was tragically killed at the age of 10.
The fossils were my childhood interest. The top, larger, block
was printed in a small edition as "The Fossil Collectors"

3. Tony Parrott 1999


Size: 75 x 55 mm
Medium: Wood engraving
Notes: This bookplate was made for a keen gardener.
It is based on a detail of my engraving "The Cabbage Eaters"

4. Randy Ward 1999


Size: 73 x 56 mm
Medium: Wood engraving
Notes: The musician is the American guitarist Trey Anastasio.
The large area of unengraved black is unusual in my work.

5. Dr Lars Lindseth 2001

Size: 98 x 60 mm
Notes: A book and crest were essential elements of this commission.

6. Arthur Dear 2001


Size: 97 x 58 mm
Medium: Wood engraving
Notes: The theme of this bookplate was a wine label.
The "black line" style of engraving is unusual in my work.

7. Gordon Aspin 2002


Size: 78 x 50 mm
Medium: Wood Engraving
Notes: This block was for an amateur astronomer and combines an antique
telescope with large and small views of the moon.
The large moon was worked by stippling with a "spitsticker"

McRobbie 2002


Size: 73 x 52
Medium: Engraving on plastic
Notes: This project was commissioned as a gift with the theme of koi carp.
Work had to be carried out quickly so the elements were sketched,
rather than worked in detail.

8. Lee Bridgewater 2001


Size: 98 x 67 mm
Medium: Engraving on plastic
Notes: I made this at short notice as a leaving gift for a friend who enjoyed walking in
the local area. It is based on my engraving "Walking Towards Ely".

9. Wouter Van Gysel 2002


Size: 150 x 49 mm
Medium: Wood Engraving
Notes: John Coltrane is a musician admired by both artist and client.
This is my largest bookplate and also the one that I am most
satisfied with. Again, the areas of unengraved black are unusual in my work.

10. "C.E." 2003

Size: 58 x 45 mm
Medium: Wood Engraving
Notes: I wanted to include a nude - or at least, a semi-nude.
This plate is a reworking of one of my illustrations to
"The Eve Of St. Agnes", published by the Barbarian Press in the Autumn of 2003.
All of the images were set at night, so the play of light on
skin and stone figured heavily in both the book and the bookplate.

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