George Dalziel

Born on 1 December 1815, George Dalziel was a British wood engraver who founded the Dalziel Brothers business in London in 1839. He trained under the wood engraver Charles Gray, and in 1840 his brother Edward joined him; over time other family members also became part of the firm.

The Dalziel Brothers became one of the most active engraving houses in Victorian Britain. They worked with artists including Richard Doyle, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and James McNeill Whistler, and they engraved illustrations for major books such as Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense, Alice in Wonderland, and Through the Looking-Glass.

Before photo-mechanical reproduction took over in the late 19th century, the firm was considered pre-eminent in its trade. George Dalziel later collaborated on The Brothers Dalziel, A Record of Work, 1840–1890, a retrospective account of the workshop’s output, and he died on 4 August 1902.