Charles Pye (engraver) explained

Charles Pye Jr. (Birmingham 1777 - 1864) was a British engraver from Birmingham.^[1] He illustrated topographical subjects, and published a Holy Family after Michelangelo.^[2]

Life

Pye was the elder son of Charles Pye Sr. (see below), an engraver in Birmingham, and the brother of landscape engraver John Pye. He was a pupil of James Heath.^[3]

During his later years, Pye lived in Leamington. A trade card (proof before engraved letters) is in the Heal Collection (Heal, 59.124) and advertises "C. Pye Engraver, No.14 Charton St. Sommerstown."^[3]

Works

Pye's engravings were published in collections including:

• Beauties of England Illustrated^[4]
• Hunter's History of London^[5]
• Cadell & Davies, Britannia depicta.^[6]
• J. Scott and P. B. de la Boissière, Picturesque Views of the City of Paris and its Environs (1823)^[1]

Pye supplied engravings to designs by William Westall for the early issues of John Poole's The Regent, Or, Royal Tablet of Memory.^[7] In 1820 he published a letter, from Euston Square, on his experiments with relief etching on copper, in The London Journal of Arts and Sciences.^[8]

Charles Pye senior

In numismatics, the elder Charles Pye was associated with the Soho Mint.^[9] He worked with Sarah Sophia Banks to issue a catalogue of tokens, illustrated by his own engravings, for collectors.^[10] He published A Correct and Complete Representation of all the Provincial Copper Coins, Tokens of Trade, and Cards of Address, on Copper, Which were circulated as such between the Years 1787 and 1801 (1801).^[11] A third edition of this book was edited by Arthur William Waters, and appeared in 1916 as a limited edition.^[12]

Pye also published Birmingham directories, and A Description of Modern Birmingham (c.1819).^[13]

Notes and References

1. 22920. Jonathan. Conlin. Pye, Charles.
2. Book: Press, Oxford University. Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators. 5 July 2018. 2012-06-21. OUP USA. 9780199923052. 241.
3. Web site: Charles Pye (Biographical details). British Museum. 5 February 2018.
4. Book: Bernard Adams. London Illustrated, 1604–1851: A Survey and Index of Topographical Books and Their Plates. 1 January 1983. Oryx Press. 978-0-85365-734-7. 238, 241, 242.
5. Book: Bernard Adams. London Illustrated, 1604–1851: A Survey and Index of Topographical Books and Their Plates. 1 January 1983. Oryx Press. 978-0-85365-734-7. 248.
6. Web site: Britannia depicta. Yale Center for British Art, Lec. Maj. collections.britishart.yale.edu.
7. Sandro Jung, The Illustrated Pocket Diary: Generic Continuity and Innovation, 1820-40, Victorian Periodicals Review Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring 2012), pp. 23–48 at p. 40. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals
8. Book: The London Journal of Arts and Sciences. 1820. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. 55–8.
9. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/3202/9/Tungate_11_PhD_minusvol2.pdf Sue Tungate, Matthew Boulton and the Soho Mint: Copper to the Customer, 2010 Ph.D. Dissertation
10. John Barrell, Radicalism, Visual Culture, and Spectacle in the 1790s, Field Day Review, Vol. 4 (2008), pp. 40–61, at p. 49. Published by: Field Day Publications.
11. Book: Pye, Charles. 1801. Second. A Correct and Complete Representation of all the Provincial Copper Coins, Tokens of Trade, and Cards of Address, on Copper, Which were circulated as such between the Years 1787 and 1801, when they were entirely superseded; a new copper coinage being at that time in circulation, issued by authority of government.. Matthew Young. Birmingham.
12. Book: Bell, Robert Charles. Tradesmen's Tickets and Private Tokens, 1785-1819. 1966. Corbitt & Hunter. 182.
13. Book: Longman, W. . Tokens of the eighteenth century connected with booksellers & bookmakers (authors, printers, publishers, engravers, and paper makers) . 1916 . . 72–3 . Longmans, Green & Co. . 5 July 2018 . London.