Etching Shakespeare

Where the bee sucks, there suck I
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily:
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
"The Tempest" (5.1.97-103)

The Etching Club was a social and professional association of twelve painter-etchers formed in London to revive etching as an illustrative artform. Members included Charles West Cope, Richard Redgrave, John Callcott Horsley, Frederick Dielman, Samuel Palmer, John Bell and William Holman Hunt.

The club promoted the rendering of original works during a period when reproduction of old masters was in vogue thus they helped invigorate the emerging art scene in England. It issued 10 volumes of original etchings during its life (1838-1885), most often accompanying literary works.

• The 10 page publication, Songs of Shakespeare, Illustrated by the Etching Club (1843) is hosted within the Arts Collection at the University of Wisconsin.
• There is very little online about The Etching Club and the information above was essentially gleaned from here, here and here.