Yachting. Ocean Race of Royal Victoria Yacht Club c1863

by The Illustrated London News

19thC antique print of early Racing Yachts c1863. The Ocean Race of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club: The Vessels off the Noman's Land Buoy (where timing was usually started). The racing yachts were Galatea, Marina, Shark, Aline, Gleam, Syren, Gipsy, Wizard, Audax, Albatross, Maria, Julia, Miranda, Christabel, Fernandi, Terpsichore, Minnif..

Original wood engraving published for The Illustrated London News in August 1863. The Illustrated London News was a weekly newspaper that increased its circulation (and prevented closure) by the inclusion of woodblock illustrations of its stories. It was a labour-intensive process that required a boxwood block to be cut to the thick ness of the type blocks, and polished smooth. An artist would then draw with a pencil on this woodblock from a mirror image he had sketched, and then an engraver with chisel and other engraving tools would cut away around the drawn image to be inked, or carve into the wood with varying depths and widths for inking and stamping the image carried. The wonderful woodcuts and wood engravings were often cut out of the newspapers, hand-coloured and revered - as with this one.

This wonderful scene has been mounted in 'antique white' conservation matt-board, decorated with one dark green line, and covered in cellophane for protection. Measurement of engraving within mount window is 255 x 355mm (10 x 14 inches). External measurement of the mount for framing is 395 x 495mm (approx. 15.5 x 19.5 inches).