Alan Reynolds Stone,CBE,RDI (13 March 1909 – 23 June 1979) was an Englishwood engraver,engraver, designer,typographer and painter.
Stone was born on 13 March 1909 atEton College, where both his grandfather, E. D. Stone, and father, E. W. Stone, were assistant masters.[1] He was educated there and atMagdalene College, Cambridge, where he obtained a degree in history in 1930.
He had no clear idea of his future, and, at the suggestion of Francis Scott, a young don at Magdalene, almost drifted into a two-year apprenticeship at theCambridge University Press, where he came under the influence of Walter Lewis and, more importantly, F. G. Nobbs, the overseer of the composing department.[1] Nobbs, to quote Stone, 'whisked me out of the hand-composing room into his office' where he taught him to appreciate letter design. A chance encounter withEric Gill on the London to Cambridge train led to Stone spending a fortnight with Gill at Piggotts inSpeen, Buckinghamshire engraving an alphabet on wood.[2]
In 1932 he moved toTaunton, where he spent two years working at the printing firm of Barnicott & Pearce, a very different experience from his time in Cambridge.[1] His experience of printing convinced him that this was not what he wanted to do for rest of his life. At Taunton he came across some old wood blocks which Barnicott gave him, and, in a bookshop atCombwich, he started to buy the wood engraved books of the 1850s and 1860s. He had already come across the wood engravings ofThomas Bewick at Cambridge, and, in 1934, 'sacked himself' and became a freelance wood engraver, moving toCodicote nearHitchin.[1]
He married the photographerJanet Woods in 1938.[3] They had four children – the painter Edward Stone (1940), the designer Humphrey Stone (1942), the illustratorPhillida Gili, and Emma Beck, wife of artistIan Beck.[4] His wife had a 30 year long relationship withKenneth Clark.[5]
The family were friends of the poetCecil Day-Lewis and his family.[6] In 2017 his son, the actorDaniel Day-Lewis named the character ofhis final film "Reynolds Woodcock", as a reference to him, and his typeface designs were used for the titles of the film.
He was elected a member of theSociety of Wood Engravers in 1948. In 1953 he was appointed a CBE and moved to the Old Rectory inLitton Cheney nearDorchester, where he lived until his death.
Stone's output was considerable. Nearly all of his contemporaries would have seen his work, although few knew his name. A common sight in most high streets was the logo that he designed forDolcis and which featured on the frontage of all their shoe shops.[7]
In 1949 he redesigned the famous clock logo ofThe Times.[8]
He engraved the Royal Arms forQueen Elizabeth II'scoronation in 1953 and the official coat of arms forHer Majesty's Stationery Office in 1955, still reproduced today on the cover of the UK passport.[7]
He also designed the coat of arms for theBritish Council.[citation needed]
He designed a number ofRoyal Mail postage stamps, starting with the 1946 Victory stamp.[9]
He designed the £5 and £10 bank notes respectively in 1963 and 1964 – including the Queen's portrait – for theBank of England.[10]
Stone is perhaps best known for his lettering.Stanley Morison, the typographer, valued him above all for this ability and said to him: "anyone can draw trees".[11] Stone's lettering was hugely admired and he worked in many media.
In 1939 Stone started to teach himself to cut letters in stone. His expertise in lettering led to a number of prestigious commissions for memorials.
In 1952 he carved the tablet in the Grand Entrance of theVictoria and Albert Museum[12] memorializing employees of the museum who died inWorld War II. This memorial complements the Eric Gill memorial to employees who died inWorld War I. In 1965 he carved the memorial toWinston Churchill and the 25th anniversary of theBattle of Britain inWestminster Abbey.[13] In 1966 he carved the memorial forT. S. Eliot in the abbey.[14] One of his last works, in 1977, was the gravestone of composerBenjamin Britten.
In 1954 he designed theMinerva typeface forLinotype, intended to complement Gill'sPilgrim in display sizes.[8] He also designed a proprietary typeface named after his wife, Janet.[citation needed]
In 1956 Stone was elected as aRoyal Designer for Industry for his work in Lettering.[15]
Stone was a self-taught wood engraver, which makes his achievements more remarkable. He had little difficulty moving from the graver and tools of the wood engraver to the chisel and mallet of the stone carver. Most of the commissions discussed above were wood engravings, as was most of his work.
His bookplates are distinguished particularly by the flowing elegance of the lettering. He produced over 350,[16] for example forHugh Trevor-Roper, depicting his home Chiefswood, and forJohn Sparrow, a nice example of his skill with letters. He had a very good eye for coats of arms, as shown by commissions from the Royal Family and the British Government as well as private individuals.
His work stood out from that of other wood engravers, who illustrated more books than Stone. Many of his commissions were for single engravings, even for books. It was a mark of distinction to have a Stone engraving on the title page or colophon.
He did, however, illustrate a number of books treasured by collectors.
In 1935 he produced 42 headpieces forThe Shakespeare Anthology for theNonesuch Press and, in the same year, 12 wood engravings forA Butler's Recipe Book 1719 for the Cambridge University Press. For theGregynog Press he illustratedThe History of Saint Louis (1937) andThe Praise and Happinesse of the Countrie-Life (1938), the latter being particularly successful. In the same year he illustratedOld English Wines and Cordials for the High House Press. He illustratedLucretia Borgia for theGolden Cockerel Press in 1942.
One of his most successful editions for a commercial publisher was an anthology compiled byAdrian Bell,The Open Air (1949).
Sylvia Townsend Warner wrote poems to complement a series of wood engravings that Stone had already completed. The result wasBoxwood (1957), a limited edition of 500 copies, an extended new edition of which was published in 1960. Stone continued withA Sociable Plover byEric Linklater (1957) andThe Skylark and other poems byRalph Hodgson (1958).
For theLimited Editions Club he illustrated Herman Melville'sOmoo in 1961. He also illustratedSaint Thomas Aquinas (1969) andThe Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1974) for the club.
In 1968 the Chilmark Press published an edition ofThe Mountains, a volume of poetry and prose byR. S. Thomas to complement a series of wood engravings made by Stone afterJohn Piper in 1946.
Stone illustrated a number of books and portfolios for Warren Editions. The first wasThe Other Side of the Alde (1968), the first use of hisJanet typeface. This was followed byABC, an Alphabet (1974),The Old Rectory (1976) and a posthumous new edition ofBoxwood (1983).
For the Compton Press he illustratedA Shepherd's Life byW. H. Hudson (1977) andA Year of Birds byIris Murdoch (1978).
His last engraving was the only one he managed to complete of a series to illustrate a republication ofSacheverell Sitwell's bookValse Des Fleurs, published in a limited edition of 400 copies in 1980. It appears on the title page of the book, and a tailpiece woodcut is published at the end.
There was a retrospective exhibition of his work at theDorset County Museum in 1981,[17] followed by a major exhibition of his work in the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum between July and October 1982.[18] Another, to honour the centenary of his birth, was held at The Red House,Aldeburgh, in April 2009.[19]
His skills were widely recognised and much in demand. Much of his work was for official bodies, so much so thatHans Schmoller wrote of him in his obituary: ... "he might almost be described as the 'Engraver Royal'".[20]
His wood engravings showed a clarity of vision and an intensity that his preparatory sketches lacked.[11] His wood engraved illustrations are distinguished by a formality and sureness of cutting, and his bookplates and coats of arms by a clarity and simplicity within the flourishes.
Stone said of his work: "One bold flourish is usually better than a larger number of small twiddles, which are not worth doing anyway. But the final danger is to do too much because the eye, delighted by a small mouthful, is soon surfeited."[21]
There have been two collections of Stone's wood engravings, the first by Myfanwy Piper,[22] the second, more definitive, with an introduction by Kenneth Clark.[1] Michael Harvey has written about his wood engraved lettering.[23]
The catalogue of theVictoria and Albert Museum exhibition[18] reprints the Goodison text[2] and two pieces by Stone, and gives a comprehensive list of the whole range of Stone's work.David Chambers has produced a checklist of his bookplates,[16] and Jeremy Malin has produced a very full checklist of his published works.[24]
There is an official website dedicated to Stone.[25]
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