Edmund J Sullivan, Illustrator of Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus

Edmund Sullivan - Illustrator (1869-1933) Source: bpib.com

Hi Mairiuna! I just can’t wait to start creating the audios for the Rob Roy novel but before I get to that, I thought I would write this post in which I will introduce you to Edmund J Sullivan, the man behind the beautiful illustrations contained in Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus.

Born in London in 1869, he studied art with his father. He was only 20 years old when he began contributing to various magazines including the Daily Chronicle, The Daily Graphic, The Pall Mall Gazette and Punch magazine.

To give you an example of his unique style, take a look at this superb drawing to illustrate one of the characters of the book, Blumine. (page 169, of the 1898 George Bell and Sons edition of Sartor Resartus, see book cover at the end of the post)

Blumine (Illustration by Edmund J Sullivan) Sartor Resartus

Blumine is, “the siren who, Calypso-like, seduced Teufelsdroeckh at the commencement of his career, but who also helped him see that it is not in sentiment, however fine, that the soul’s cravings can find satisfaction”.

Each chapter heading in the book has a small illustration. For example, this is the one showing at the beginning of Book II, The Chapter I, titled “Genesis” . It clearly denotes the excellency of Edmund Sullivan’s art.

Click on the links below to view each of the 79 illustrations, I’m sure you’ll be impressed !

Many thanks to George P. Landow for taking time to scan each of the drawings and for extending permission to add to our site.

George P. Landow

• Thomas Carlyle [Frontispice]
• Heading to the Introduction
• Heading to List of Contents
• Heading to Testimonies of Authors — A Reviewer’s copy
• Herr Diogenes
• Initial to Chapter I [Preliminary]
• Initial to Chapter II [Editorial Difficulties]
• Truth and the Prince of Lies
• The Wandering Jew
• Night Thoughts
• Herr Hofrath Heuschrecke
• Initial to Chapter IV [Characteristics]
• “He could clasp the whole Universe into his bosom and keep it warm”
• “On the proposal for a cast-metal king”
• A Laugh
• The World in Clothes — Heading to Chapter V
• The Aboriginal Savage
• The Stone Age
• Initial to Chapter VI [Aprons]
• The Laystall
• Initial to Chapter VII [Miscellaneous-Historical]
• Miscellaneous Historical Costumes (1-4)
• Miscellaneous Historical Costumes (5)
• Teufelsdröckh Surveys — Heading to Chapter VIII
• Adamatism — Heading to Chapter IX
• “Red Hanging Individual” — Heading to Chapter X
• Aspiration
• Attorney Logic
• Chaos
• The Old Adam and Eve — Frontispiece to Volume II
• Initial to Chapter I [Genesis]
• “Father Andreas”
• Old Kunz, The Swinherd
• Initial to Chapter III [Pedagogy]
• The Schoolmaster of the Future
• Shams
• Mount Parnassus
• Heading to Chapter IV [Romance]
• Heading to Chapter V [Sorrows of Teufelosdröckh]
• Blumine
• The Heart of Teufelsdröckh — Tailpiece to Chapter V
• “Like Unto a Wheel” — Heading to Chapter VI
• Initial to Chapter VII [The Everlasting No]
• “Metaphysics”
• Initial to Chapter VIII [Centre of Indifference]
• Shams
• “The Storm Fiend” –Heading to Chapter IX
• “The Lines of Truth and Beauty” –Heading to Chapter X
• “The Satirical Philosopher” — Tailpiece to Book II
• “Adam and Eve (circa 1830)” — Frontispiece to Book III
• “Initial to Chapter I” [Incidents in Modern History]
• “Initial to Chapter II” [Church-Clothes]
• “Initial to Chapter III” [“Symbols”]
• “A Fool’s Paradise”
• “Heading to Chapter IV” [Helotage]
• “A Peasant Saint”
• “Initial to Chapter V [The Phoenix]”
• “The Symbol Shop”
• “Initial to Chapter VI [Old Clothes]”
• “Teufelsdröckh’s Reverence for Empty Clothes”
• “In Monmouth Street”
• “The Bedlam of Creation”
• Initial to Chapter VIII” [Organic Filaments]
• Organic Filaments
• “Initial to Chapter VIII” [Natural Supernaturalism]
• “Time and Death — Tailpiece to Chapter VIII”
• “Initial to Chapter IX” [Circumspective]
• “The Real and the Ideal”
• “Initial to Chapter X” [The Dandiacal Body]
• “The Dandies’ Holy of Holies”
• “The Beggars’ March”
• “Initial to Chapter XI” [Tailors]
• “Sic Itur as Astra”
• “The Philsopher’s Pen — Heading to Chapter XII”
• “Finis Coronat Opus” — Tailpiece
• “Tailpiece to the Index”

George Bell & Sons Edition - 1898

Sartor Resartus Illustration by Edmund J Sullivan

The earliest known work for Edmund Sullivan is the image he did for the Society of Illustrators founded by Joseph Pennell in 1895, A London Garland.

Other Illustration Works

French Revolution-Thomas Carlyle-1837

The Pirate - Waverley novels - Walter Scott

Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes (1896)

The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1896)

The Pirate by Walter Scott (1898)

A Dream of Fair Women and Other Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1900)

A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells (1905)

The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle (1910)

Talk soon. 🙂

Janice