Paul Nash (1889-1946)

This work is the final pencil drawing for the illustration titled 'Tokens' for Sir Thomas Brown's 'Urne Buriall and the Garden of Cyrus'. The work was published by Cassell's in 1932 in an edition of two hundred and fifteen with only eighty five bound copies. A collotype outline was made from this drawing which would then be handcoloured by Nash. Stencils were then cut so that the colours used in the reproductions could be laid over the collotype outline in a process similar to present day screenprinting

Postan comments in the introduction to the 1973 exhibition 'Although the volume never achieved the financial success that it deserved, it can now be seen as a classic example of the best in twentieth century book illustration and design' (see Exhibition catalogue; Paul Nash, Designs for Urne Buriall and The Garden of Cyrus, London, 1973, introduction).