This proof has furious annotations written by the designer (probably Francis S Walker), complaining about the engraving. The annotation in the centre reads: ‘Some skill required from the toucher – The Heads are simply Horrors and make me aghast.’ The ‘toucher’ refers to the engraver at the Dalziel office who would make changes to the block.
Dalziel, after Francis S Walker (?), decorative border for Laura Valentine, The Nobility of Life, Its Graces and Virtues (London: Frederick Warne, 1869). Dalziel Archive Vol XXIV (1868), British Museum reg. no. 1913,0415.185, print no. 791.
By Permission of the Trustees of The British Museum. All Rights Reserved © Sylph Editions, 2016