William Tombleson was an English topographical and architecture

Architectural drawing

An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building that falls within the definition of architecture...

 artist, illustrator, copper and steel

Steel engraving

Steel engraving, is a commercial engraving technique for printing illustrations, based on steel instead of copper. It has been rarely used in artistic printmaking, although was much used for reproductions in the 19th century. Steel engraving was introduced in 1792 by Jacob Perkins , an American...

 engraver, writer and printmaker, based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Life and works

In the 1830s, his topographical drawings of the upper and middle River Rhine in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and of the rivers Thames and Medway

River Medway

The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 were published as engraved prints and books (see bibliography). For volume 1 of "Views of the Rhine etc." he provided 69 illustrations - the book was also published in French and German editions.

Engravers who worked on Tombleson's drawings included Thomas Clark, John Cleghorn, T. Cox, R. Harris, W. Hood, J. Howe, W. Lacey, O. Smith, Shenfield, J. Stokes, D. Thompson, W. Tombleson, W. Watts, R. Wilson, H. Winkles

Henry Winkles

Henry Winkles was an English architectural illustrator, engraver and printer, who, together with Karl Ludwig Frommel founded the first studio for steel engraving in Germany....

 and others.

Selected bibliography

Illustrated by Tombleson:

• Fearnside, William Gray. Tombleson's Views of the Rhine from Cologne to Mainz(London: George Virtue, 1832) - French edition.
• Fearnside, William Gray. The Thames and Medway. A series of eighty engravings displaying the most picturesque waterside scenery of ten counties etc (London: Thomas Holmes, c. 1865).

Books with engravings by Tombleson:

• Brayley, E. W
  Edward William Brayley
  Edward William Brayley FRS was an English geographer, librarian, and science author.-Early life:Brayley was born in London, the son of Edward Wedlake Brayley, a notable antiquary and his wife Anne . His early schooling, in the company of his brothers Henry and Horatio was private and sheltered...
  
  . A series of views of the most interesting remains of ancient castles of England and Wales (Longman, Hurst, Reese, Orme & Brown, 1823).
• Neale, J. P.
  John Preston Neale
  -Life:Neale's earliest works were drawings of insects. While in search of specimens in Hornsey Wood in the spring of 1796, Neale met John Varley the water-colour painter. Together they projected a work to be entitled ‘The Picturesque Cabinet of Nature,’ for which Varley was to make the landscape...
  
   Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (Sherwood Jones, and Co. London, 1824)
• Shepherd, Thomas & Elmes, James. Metropolitan improvements; or London in the nineteenth century (London: Jones & Co. 1827).

External links

• Tombleson online (ArtCyclopedia)
• Work by Tombleson (Government Art Collection
  Government Art Collection
  The United Kingdom's Government Art Collection places works of art in major Government buildings in the UK and around the world to promote British art, culture and history....
  
  )
• Map of the River Thames
• Works by Tombleson in the British Library
• Tombleson in the US Library of Congress
• Tombleson at Europeana directory