Collection consists of illustrations clipped from fashion magazines, general-interest periodicals, children’s
picture books and other illustrated books, bringing together the work of over 275 illustrators published
between the 1860s and the 1920s, chiefly in the United States, Britain and Canada.
Fashion magazine covers in series 1 featuring imaginative and extravagant costumes are full colour
lithographs, as are most of the sheets in series 4 (Illustrations from publications for children). Illustrations
in series 2 (Book and magazine illustrations) are largely achromatic images depicting events in fictional
and poetic works, and include printed black-and-white wood engravings. Many folders contain a single
sheet of illustration by one artist, while series 3 (Gustave Doré illustrations) consists of more than two
hundred published wood engravings by prolific French artist Gustave Doré. The collection of over 3000
items offers a perspective on the era of illustration by graphic artists before it was largely superseded
(except in children’s literature) by photography.