All 41 Plates From Evelyn Waugh’s Victorian Blood Book, Durenstein!

Among the papers left behind by the English writer Evelyn Waugh (8 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) is a so-called Victorian Blood Book. This large rectangular decoupage scrapbook of 41 plates bound and wrapped in marble endpapers is remarkable, strange and unsettling, with echoes of illuminated medieval manuscripts and Rosicrucianism.

 

The book’s decoupage (paper and card stuck on the page) was created from hundreds of engravings, many from collections of etchings by the writer William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) and other early nineteenth-century books. There are images from nature (flowers, insects, animals and the same image of a bird on every page – a large drop of blood-red India ink dripping from each of its wings) and Christian identity (the crucifixion and crusaders – all apparently dripping blood). For added depth, the book’s maker has added religious commentary.

The first if the book’s 41 plates (above) contains a short table of contents and the title “Durenstein!” – Dürenstein is the Austrian castle at which England’s King Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart, was held captive on his way back from the Crusades.

The title and the theme of many of the plates relate to the spiritual battles encountered by Christians along the path of life and the “blood” of Christian sacrifice.

 

At the front of the books there’s an inscription by English amateur artist John Bingley Garland (1791 – 1875) to his daughter Amy, dated September 1, 1854:

“A legacy left in his lifetime for her future examination by her affectionate father.”

Amy married the Reverend Richard Pyper not long after, leading to the assumption that the album was a wedding present.

When not making collage and  decoupage, John Bingley Garland was being a prosperous businessman. He moved to Newfoundland, Canada and became speaker of its first Parliament. Towards the end of his life returned to his native Dorset and became the county’s High Sheriff.

 

 

 

The Blood Book and Waugh’s manuscripts and 3,500-volume library are now at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.