Books [Charles Mudie]
1873
![Books [Charles Mudie] by Frederick Waddy, 1873](https://www.thequadro.com/api/storage/artworks/thumb/l/frederick-waddy/frederick-waddy_books-charles-mudie_78fc5fec)
Meet Charles Mudie, the Victorian-era 'book boss' whose lending library practically dictated what Britain read for decades. The ribbon wrapping around his portrait lists genres like 'Fiction,' 'Poetry,' and 'Adventure,' acting as a delicious menu for his famous Mudie's Select Library. He was so powerful that authors wrote 'three-decker' novels just to fit his library's lending model—three volumes meant three people could rent the same book simultaneously! This 1873 engraving captures the bearded gatekeeper of 19th-century literature surrounded by the very categories he helped popularize.
- Technique
- Engraving
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