Bibliographic Essay Revisited
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Illustrator: Alan Andrew Farrant
Publisher: Stukeley Press, London
Date of publication: 1994
Edition: 11 of 50 printed
Value: $2,000
Physical Description
- Pages with the poem: Vellin Blanc paper, 200 grams per square meter (or gsm), four sharp edges, 46 x 31.4 cm. Printed on two sheets of paper folded to four leaves.
- Pages with the illustrations: Vellin Blanc paper, 270 gsm, four deckled (or seemingly worn) edges, 46 x 31.4 cm with illustration plate size of 31.4 x 15.4cm. Printed on one sheet with blank leaves separating and protecting each print.
- Held in Solander boxes, a hard-cased portfolio, with a linen cover: 46.8 x 33 x 5.5 cm. Bound together by Bookbinders of Lewes, East Sussex
- Font: black, Times font
- Illustrations: 30 aquatints in black ink, inscribed in pencil with reference line of the poem
- Structural order: Edition selection, legend, preface, poem argument, poem parts I – VII, and publication history
Author and Illustrator Biographies
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834)
Born in Devonshire, England, Coleridge was the youngest child in his family. In 1791, Coleridge began his first year at Jesus College, University of Cambridge to appease his father’s dream for him to become a clergyman; however his interests soon shifted away from the Church. In 1795, Coleridge met his friend and collaborator to be, William Wordsworth. The two published lyrical Ballads in 1798, in which “The Rime” appears first. As in “The Mariner,” Coleridge’s Romantic poems emphasize the power of the natural world as well as the sublime. Critics in Coleridge’s time did not hold “The Rime” in the same esteem as the modern cannon, citing its dark themes and inaccessibility (ed. Zott). In his later years, Coleridge battled depression, and his works reflect his anxiety of artistic failure. Learn more about Coleridge’s life here.
Alan Andrew Farrant: (November 1, 1934 – July 26, 2013)
Known primarily for his artwork in stone, Farrant’s artwork is deeply connected to the natural world, its power and age. Farrant acknowledged the help of two friends in the making of the “Rime” prints. Andrew Purches helped print the text and organize the book’s structure. Hugh Stoneman helped Farrant throughout the printing process. Farrant’s process of illustrating Coleridge’s poem lasted ten years. For each of the thirty copper plates, Farrant produced three sketches, finally developing into the desired image.
Davidson College’s Acquisition
This particular edition joined Davidson College’s collection thanks to the work of one of Farrant’s dear friends: Dr. J. Gill Holland. A series of letters between Holland, Farrant, and Farrant’s wife, Liz, remain today, leading to the college’s acquirement of the edition in 2014.
In one letter, dated August 10, 1991, Farrant wrote Holland about moving away with his wife: “So Liz and I ran away leaving all behind […] I hope sincerely we will keep in touch.”
In another beautifully written letter, Farrant responds to the recent 9/11 attacks: “Oh God, that we should be so impotent, when our spirits cry out to help. Weep for you. We weep and pray for every woman, man, and child of America. That only is left within our power. Hard though it may be, we pray also for those who were responsible for this terrible deed. How else can we hope to conquer the cancer that eats at the heart of this schizophrenic world of ours.”
Davidson’s collection has limited funding to purchase such a collection, but Dr. William Cumming Rose, class of 1907, presented this edition as an endowed fund.
Critical Insights
In a pamphlet, nestled in the pages of the eleventh edition, Farrant wrote about the magic of Coleridge’s poem: “Indeed it is the kind of poem that commands obsession from all those who turn to know it: the kind of poem that can make the hair on the back of the neck stand on end, one of the measures of a truly great poem.” Farrant honored this literary masterpiece with his own obsession and great artistic abilities. He took time to produce multiple sketches and perfect editions, and he took care in handling the paper and medium.
Farrant implemented his own, contextualized agenda. His point of departure was the disastrous effect that drug addiction has on the human soul. He wrote, “Drug abuse itself is a metaphor for the many other worldly appetites which, if over indulged, so easily destroy the creative spirit” (3). Farrant’s composition produces a drug-induced state, with abnormal patterns in the ocean waves and unspecified backgrounds.
Alan Farrant “With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross.”
The plate titled “With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross,” for example, shows the horrific action of slaughter coming from the mariner’s own head, with a coffin lingering behind him. The man himself is skinny, not like the muscle-displaying men of Scott’s illustrations. One wide-eyed figure overlaps with the same figure with glasses on, disrupting time in the natural order. Farrant suggests the dark and lonely consequences of drug abuse throughout the rest of the text. Drug abusers will spend the rest of their lives warning others to not “succumb to worldly temptation,” just like the Mariner (3). Through this dedication and artistic vision, Farrant responded to and became a part of the long tradition of illustrating “The Mariner.”
A Brief History of Illustrating the Mariner
David Scott “The Albatross is shot by the Mariner”
The publication of “The Rime” in 1789 did little to inspire illustrators of the late 18th and early 19thcenturies to use the text. David Scott produced the first series of illustrations for a publication in 1837, followed by Noel Paton in 1863 (Thomas 364).
Noel Paton “Then all averred I had killed the bird”
Both sets of illustrations use strong contour lines and rely heavily on musculature and gesture of the human figure.
Gustave Doré “I Shot the Albatross”
In 1875, Gustave Doré, created thirty-eight plates from the poem (Chazal). As a Realist artist, Doré’s focused not only on the accuracy of the human figure but also on the relationship between man and nature. The forbidding darkness surrounding the figures further emphasizes the shining white of the ocean waves and of the albatross. Farrant used these heavy contrast and dark, figural outlines in his own work.
Mervyn Peake “The Albatross is Shot”
Farrant also noted Mervyn Peake and Patrick Proctor as contemporary examples of “The Rime” illustration. Peake published his edition in 1943, and his work, influenced by Surrealism, explores the maniac psychology of the Mariner and the nightmarish consequences of his actions. Peake used heavy cross-hatching in these prints, allowing for dramatic contrast between the white of the paper and the black of the ink.
Patrick Proctor “Two plates from the Ancient Mariner”
In 1976, Proctor approached the text in a new and exciting way: colorful aquatints. Proctor depicted human figures and landscapes in a graceful and painterly way. Farrant mirrored Peake’s interest in the human mind and its limitations, and Farrant also used aquatint in an innovative way.
Each artist’s illustrations of “The Rime” made an impact on Farrant’s creative decisions; however, Farrant wished to give a “visual interpretation which went beyond [this] kind of reflective illustration” (Farrant 3). Farrant appreciated the spirit of “The Rime” as imaginary, filling its readers with fluid, mental images rather than literal ones.
Works Cited and Consulted
“Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.” Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.
Downing, Crystal. “Rime of the Ancient Martian.” Books & Culture Sept.-Oct. 2005: 45. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.
Farrant, Alan Andrew. “The Making of the Mariner.” 1994. Print.
Chazal, Gilles. “Doré, Gustave.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T023374>.
“Lyrical Ballads.” Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The.” Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.
Thomas, Sophie. “Poetry and Illustration: ‘Amicable strife.’” A Companion to Romantic Poetry Ed. Charles Mahoney. Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture. John Wiley & Sons. Web. 6 Feb. 2016