Reynolds Stone (1909 – 1979)

Reynolds Stone was born at Eton College, where both his grandfather, E. D. Stone, and father, E. W. Stone, were assistant masters. He was educated there and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he obtained a degree in history in 1930.

An interest in book publishing and hand composing of lettering caused him to drift into a two-year apprenticeship at the Cambridge University Press, though a chance encounter with Eric Gill on the London to Cambridge train led to Stone spending a fortnight with Gill at Piggotts in Speen, Buckinghamshire engraving an alphabet on wood.

Whilst briefly in Taunton at Barnicott & Pearce he came across some old printing wood blocks which Barnicott gave him, which, in turn, led Stone to start to collect wood engraved books of the 1850s and 1860s; the era of Thomas Bewick. Stone became a wood engraver thereafter and set up a studio in Codicote near Hitchin.

Though essentially a self-taught wood engraver, e produced over 350 bookplates through private commissions from, for example, Hugh Trevor-Roper and John Sparrow, to the Royal Family and the British Government.

His work stood out from that of other wood engravers, who illustrated more books than Stone. Many of his commissions were for single engravings, even for books. It was a mark of distinction to have a Stone engraving on the title-page or colophon.

He produced 42 headpieces for The Shakespeare Anthology for the Nonesuch Press, wood engravings for the Cambridge University Press and many more. For the Compton Press he illustrated A Shepherd's Life by W. H. Hudson (1977) and A Year of Birds by Iris Murdoch.

Sylvia Townsend Warner wrote poems to complement a series of wood engravings that Stone had already completed.

Stone's wider commercial output was considerable. Familiar on many a high street at one time was the logo he designed for Dolcis, the shoe seller. In 1949 he redesigned the famous clock logo of The Times.

He engraved the Royal Arms for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 and the official coat of arms for Her Majesty's Stationery Office in 1955, still familiar on the cover of the UK passport.

He also designed the coat of arms for the and a number of Royal Mail postage stamps, starting with the 1946 Victory stamp. He also designed the £5 and £10 bank notes respectively in 1963 and 1964 – including the Queen's portrait – for the Bank of England.

Stone was even better known for his lettering. In 1939 Stone started to teach himself to cut letters in stone. His expertise in lettering led to several prestigious commissions for memorials.

In 1952 he carved the memorial tablet to employees of the Victoria and Albert Museum museum who died in World War II; Gill having produced the previous memorial for the great war. In 1965 he carved the memorial to Winston Churchill and the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in Westminster Abbey. In 1966 he carved the memorial for T. S. Eliot also in the abbey. One of his latest works, in 1977, was the gravestone of Benjamin Britten.

In 1954 he designed the Minerva typeface for Linotype.

In 1956 Stone was elected as a Royal Designer for Industry for his work in Lettering.

Stone married the photographer and society hostess Janet Woods in 1938 who then embarked on a 30 year long relationship with the art critic, Kenneth Clark.

He was elected a member of the Society of Wood Engravers in 1948 and in 1953 was appointed CBE and moved to the Old Rectory in Litton Cheney near Dorchester, where he lived until his death.

Picture dimensions = 9x5.5cm
Frame dimensions = 25x19.5cm

Black and Gold