THE TEMPEST BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY PAUL WOODROFFE

 Paul Vincent Woodroffe (25 January 1875 – 7 May 1954) was a British book illustrator and stained-glass artist.

Paul Vincent Woodroffe (1875–1954) was a versatile artist who worked in a variety of genres. His principal work was divided between illustration and stained glass, though he also designed posters, book bindings and book-plates, and spent some time in his later years painting landscapes. Active in the 1890s but continuing well into the twentieth century, he is best remembered today for his windows; his most famous series was installed in St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York (1908, and extending over a period of twenty years). His illustrations are less familiar. Listed in accounts of the period by Simon Houfe (p.355) and Edward Hodnett (pp. 220–24), they have never been the subject of detailed scrutiny and are viewed by many critics, notably John Russell Taylor (pp. 111–12), as derivative and uninteresting.

There is some truth in this judgement: he does, occasionally, rely on formula and repetition. But Woodroffe’s book-art is far more significant than is generally believed, a minority view expressed by Rodney Engen (p.96), and one advanced here. His treatment of the printed page is often striking, and represents a distinct contribution to the twinned styles of Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau. Usually combining full-page illustrations with decorative borders and head and tail pieces, his books usually produce a unified effect. He made a further contribution in the form of elaborate trade bindings (Haslam, p.178), creating designs for the general public which popularize the avant-garde. THE VICTORIAN WEB

"SHE DID CONFINE THEE,

BY HELP OF HER MOST POTENT MINISTERS

AND IN HER MOST UNMITIGABLE RAGE,

INTO A CLOVEN PINE"

"ON THE TOPMAST, 

THE YARDS AND THE BOWSPRIT, WOULD I FLAME DISTINCTLY"

"COME UNTO THESE YELLOW SANDS"

"FULL FATHOM FIVE THY FATHER LIES;

OF HIS BONES ARE CORAL MADE"

"WHILE YOU HERE DO SNORING LIE"

"AND YET I NEEDS MUST CURSE"

"FOUR LEGS AND TWO VOICES: A MOST DELICATE MONSTER!"

"FAIR ENCOUNTER OF TWO MOST RARE AFFECTIONS"

"LEAD MONSTER; WE'LL FOLLOW. I WOULD I COULD SEE

 THIS TABORER: HE LAYS IT ON"

ARIEL AS A HARPY

"THE QUEEN O' THE SKY,

WHOSE WATERY ARCH AND MESSENGER  AM I,

BIDS THEE LEAVE THESE."

"COME, HANG THEM ON THIS LINE"

"FURY! FURY!THERE, TYRANT, THERE! HARK! HARK!"

"ON THE BAT'S BACK I DO FLY"

"SWEET LORD, YOU PLAY ME FALSE"