Will G. Mein
Encyclopedia
Will G. Mein (4 April 1868 - 1939) was a British book illustrator who flourished in the late 19th to early 20th century. He lived in London
from around the turn of the century.
, Roxburgh
, Scotland. His painting On the Tweed Near Berwick was exhibited by the Royal Scottish Academy
in 1898 but he is known primarily for his illustrations. His drawings were published in The Dome
periodical, with contemporary artists Laurence Housman
and Frank Mura
. He was engaged by publisher Andrew Melrose to illustrate W. E. Cule's
fairy tale Mabel's Prince Wonderful (1899) - his first major book illustration commission. Around the same time, the Decadent publisher Leonard Smithers
commissioned him to illustrate Nigel Tourneur's
Hidden Witchery.
Mein married Frances Elizabeth Sinclair in December 1902, in Berwick
, and they settled in Fulham
, London. He is known in particular for illustrating works of fairy tale and fantasy and also specialised in boys' stories. He provided woodcut
illustrations for the hugely popular book The Roadmender
by Michael Fairless (1903), which went through many editions. He died in London, 1939.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from around the turn of the century.
Life and works
Mein was born in KelsoKelso, Scotland
Kelso is a market town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It lies where the rivers Tweed and Teviot have their confluence...
, Roxburgh
Roxburgh
Roxburgh , also known as Rosbroch, is a village, civil parish and now-destroyed royal burgh. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland...
, Scotland. His painting On the Tweed Near Berwick was exhibited by the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
in 1898 but he is known primarily for his illustrations. His drawings were published in The Dome
The Dome (periodical)
The Dome published in London at 7 Cecil Court by the Unicorn Press and subtitled consecutively "A Quarterly Containing Examples of the Arts" and "An Illustrated Monthly Magazine and Review" was a literary periodical associated with the "Nineties" scene, edited by Ernest J. Oldmeadow. It ran for...
periodical, with contemporary artists Laurence Housman
Laurence Housman
Laurence Housman was an English playwright, writer and illustrator.-Early life:Laurence Housman was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, one of seven children who included the poet A. E. Housman and writer Clemence Housman. In 1871 his mother died, and his father remarried, to a cousin...
and Frank Mura
Frank Mura
Frank Mura was a French-born American painter and water colourist who also worked in charcoal and pencil. His work includes landscapes, buildings, marine settings, human subjects and animals...
. He was engaged by publisher Andrew Melrose to illustrate W. E. Cule's
W. E. Cule
William Edward Cule was a British author of children's books and several books for adults on Christian themes. In all, he wrote some thirty books encompassing a number of popular genres - public school stories, adventure yarns, fairy tales, novels and Christian allegories and fable...
fairy tale Mabel's Prince Wonderful (1899) - his first major book illustration commission. Around the same time, the Decadent publisher Leonard Smithers
Leonard Smithers
Leonard Smithers was a London publisher associated with the Decadent movement. Born in Sheffield, he worked as a solicitor, qualifying in 1884, and became friendly with the explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton. He published Burton's translation of the Book of One Thousand and One...
commissioned him to illustrate Nigel Tourneur's
Nigel Tourneur
Nigel Tourneur was a fin de siecle writer known for one work only - Hidden Witchery. a collection of seven short stories and a short prose drama. Set in the indeterminate past, these sensually charged stories are concerned with obsessive love, often given a macabre or supernatural twist.In an...
Hidden Witchery.
Mein married Frances Elizabeth Sinclair in December 1902, in Berwick
Berwickshire
Berwickshire or the County of Berwick is a registration county, a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, and a lieutenancy area of Scotland, on the border with England. The town after which it is named—Berwick-upon-Tweed—was lost by Scotland to England in 1482...
, and they settled in Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
, London. He is known in particular for illustrating works of fairy tale and fantasy and also specialised in boys' stories. He provided woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
illustrations for the hugely popular book The Roadmender
The Roadmender
The Roadmender is a 1902 Christian spiritual book by Margaret Barber, writing under the pseudonym Michael Fairless. The book was enormously popular in its time, running through 31 editions in 10 years....
by Michael Fairless (1903), which went through many editions. He died in London, 1939.
Selected works illustrated by Will G. Mein
- Michael Fairless (Margaret BarberMargaret BarberMargaret Fairless Barber , pseudonym Michael Fairless, was an English Christian writer whose book of meditations, The Roadmender achieved huge popularity in its time.-Life:...
) The Roadmender, Duckworth & Company, London, 1903. - D.L A. JephsonDigby JephsonDigby Loder Armeroid Jephson was a cricketer who played for Cambridge University and Surrey. Jephson was a right-handed middle order batsman. But his enduring fame rests on his reputation as one of the last lob bowlers, bowling slow right-arm underarm lobs...
, A Fragment, R. J. Everett & Sons, London, 1903. - Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull (pseud. Guy ThorneGuy ThorneGuy Thorne was the pen name of Cyril Arthur Edward Justice Waggoner Ranger Gull , a prolific English journalist and novelist best known for his novel When It Was Dark: The Story of A Great Conspiracy...
) From the Book Beautiful: Being Some Old Lights Relit, Greening & Co., London,1903. - — The Adventures of Ulysses the Wanderer: An Old Story Retold, Greening & Co., London, 1902.
- Nigel TourneurNigel TourneurNigel Tourneur was a fin de siecle writer known for one work only - Hidden Witchery. a collection of seven short stories and a short prose drama. Set in the indeterminate past, these sensually charged stories are concerned with obsessive love, often given a macabre or supernatural twist.In an...
, Hidden Witchery, Leonard SmithersLeonard SmithersLeonard Smithers was a London publisher associated with the Decadent movement. Born in Sheffield, he worked as a solicitor, qualifying in 1884, and became friendly with the explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton. He published Burton's translation of the Book of One Thousand and One...
, London, 1898. - Percy IzzardPercy IzzardPercy W. D. Izzard OBE was the well-known gardening correspondent on the Daily Mail newspaper and author of several books on gardening.- Life and works :...
, Homeland:A Year of Country Days, .John Richmond, London, 1918. - Irene OsgoodIrene OsgoodIrene Osgood was an American novelist, poet and dramatist. She was born near Richmond, Virginia, in 1875 and spent most of her life in England. She was a daughter of John De Belot...
(trans.) The Indelicate Duellist: Adapted from the French (of Charles Leroy), John Richmond, London, 1914. - — Where Pharaoh Dreams: Being the Impressions of a Woman-of-Moods in Egypt", John Richmond, London, 1914.
- W. E. CuleW. E. CuleWilliam Edward Cule was a British author of children's books and several books for adults on Christian themes. In all, he wrote some thirty books encompassing a number of popular genres - public school stories, adventure yarns, fairy tales, novels and Christian allegories and fable...
. Mabel's Prince Wonderful: or, A Trip to Storyland, E. W. & R. Chambers, Edinburgh & London,1899. - Christies Deas. Pan-o’-the-Pipes: Eight Fairy Tales, A. Walker & Son,Galashiels, 1915.
- Clement ScottClement ScottClement Scott was an influential English theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph, and a playwright and travel writer, in the final decades of the 19th century...
. Some Notable Hamlets of the Present Time, Greening & Co., London, 1900. - H.L.Havell, Stories from Thucydides, Harrap, 1909
- James Eaton. The Worship of It, and Other Fancies, Grant Richards, London. 1915.
- James Baldwin,The Story of Roland and the Peers of Charlemagne, George G. Harrap & Co., 1917
- Regina Miriam BlochRegina Miriam Bloch- Biography :She was born in Sondershausen, Thuringia, and educated in Berlin and London. She was the third child of John Bloch of Egbaston, Birmingham, editor of the German sporting journal Spiel und Sport ....
, The Book of Strange Loves, London, 1918