George Cruikshank's Life, Times and Art

Robert L. Patten is the Lynette S. Autrey Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Rice University, and writes primarily about Victorian literature, graphic arts, and print culture, including multiple books about Charles Dickens.

1. "They illustrate the close connection between archaeology, architectural history, historical geography and economic history which runs throughout the book and is the hall-mark of the Deserted Medieval Village Group." - R. H. C. Davis in The English Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 349, October, 1973, pp. 886-8872. "This volume examines the uses to which Cruikshank put his remarkable skills of delineating frenetic action, agitated and contorted extremities, phrenological types contrasted in superimposed rows or in overcrowded rooms, and political leaders driven diabolically to undermine the state." - Carl Woodring in The Wordsworth Circle, Vol. 25, No. 4, Autumn, 1994, pp. 228-2293. "Ultimately, it is to be highly recommended to the general reader, both as a study of an individual and for the picture of a London in transition which emerges, while, together with the forthcoming second volume, it will be appreciated by the student of nineteenth-century book illustration and of the nineteenth-century printing and publishing trades." - Eirwen Nicholson in History, Vol. 78, No. 254, October, 1993, pp. 521-5224. "Master of both the medium and the message, Patten delves into the technical, the business, the historical, the aesthetic, and the comic aspects of Cruikshank's work from the early 1800s to the First Reform Bill. His grasp of the etcher's technique seems as firm as his knowledge of Cruikshank's myriad business deals with publishers, printers, and writer." - L. Perry Curtis Jr., in Victorian Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2, Winter, 1995, pp.279-2825. "If the 'times' element is less complete and satisfactory than the analysis of Cruikshank's life and art, Patten's Cruikshank is much more than a useful reference work for a most prolific and versatile artist." - Marc Baer in Print Quarterly, Vol.10, No. 3, 1993, pp. 295-2966. "To read the first volume of Robert Patten's new biography of George Cruikshank is to find the treasure that visitors to the labyrinthine ways of nine-teenth-century graphic art search for: a thorough, accurate, entertaining guide that provides a new perspective, not only on Cruikshank, but on matters as diverse as the aesthetics and the politics of caricature." - Patricia Marks in Victorian Periodicals Review, Winter, 1994, Vol. 27, No. 4, Winter, 1994, pp.377-3807. "Professor Patten conveys a wealth of information, including the most detailed notes on print and publication, without abandoning either enthusiasm or judgement." - Quentin Blake in RSA Journal, December 1992, Vol. 141, No.5435, pp. 57-58