3-016-924 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Alaric Alexander Watts, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Messrs. J. and C. Watkins. Alaric Watts was '...the editor...of "The Literary Souvenir"...It was the first of the annuals; and the plan of such a serial miscellany, when proposed to him by Messrs. Hurst and Robinson, was a novelty in England...Mr. Watts's notion was, that poems and short prose sketches by popular writers of the day might here be associated with highly finished line-engravings from the best examples of the English school of painting. Some of the finest works of Turner, Leslie, Stothard, Roberts, Lawrence, Collins, Danby, and Martin were engraved, at his suggestion, by the hands of Heath, Finden, Watt, Goodall, and Pye, and were published in the "Literary Souvenir." The sale of this annual reached on one occasion the number of 14,000 copies. After its discontinuance, in 1834, Mr. Watts edited, for three years, the Cabinet of Modern Art. He was at the same time editor of the United Service Gazette, and remained its editor until 1843. He was subsequently connected with the Standard and other newspapers. A handsome collected edition of Mr. Watts's poetical pieces appeared in 1851, with the title of "Lyrics of the Heart".' From "Illustrated London News", 1864.