Harold Copping (1863 - 1932)

The following biography is courtesy of Spartacus Educational:

Harold Copping was born in 1863 [Camden Town, London, England]. After studying at the Royal Academy School* he visited Paris on a Landseer Scholarship*. He became an accomplished illustrator and early books included Hammond's Hard Lines (1894), Miss Bobbie (1897), Millionaire (1898), A Queen Among Girls (1900), Pilgrim's Progress (1903), Westward Ho! (1903), Grace Abounding (1905), Three School Chums (1907), Children's Stories from Dickens (1911), Little Women (1912), Good Wives (1913), A Christmas Carol (1920) and Character Sketches from Boz (1924). [1]

Copping was commissioned to produce illustrations for the Bible. To achieve authenticity for his illustrations he travelled in Palestine. The resulting book, The Copping Bible (1910), was a best-seller and led to more Bible commissions. This included A Journalist in the Holy Land (1911), The Golden Land (1911), The Bible Story Book (1923) and My Bible Book (1931). [2]

As well as book illustrations, Copping contributed to the periodicals The Leisure Hour, Little Folks, Pearson's Magazine, The Royal Magazine, The Temple Magazine and The Windsor Magazine.

Harold Copping, who lived in Shoreham and Sevenoaks [Kent, England], died in 1932.

Source: Spartacus Educational website


Footnotes:
[1] Harold Copping also exhibited at the Royal Academy* and at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours* in London. Source: Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators (2012), by Emmanuel Benezit; Oxford University Press.

[2] Copping also visited Canada in the early 20th century. The trip resulted in the book Canadian Pictures: Thirty-Six Plates in Colour Illustrating Canadian Life and Scenery Reproduced from Original Drawings; and, there are eight watercolors by him, with a creation date of c.1911, in the collection of the Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan. Their titles include A Bumper Crop on Irrigated Gleichen Land, Alberta; Evening on the Prairie, Saskatchewan; Settler's Farm near Vancouver [B.C.]; Settler's Cabin and Garden, Russell, Manitoba; and Logging Camp, Gulf of Georgia, B.C.

Source: Canadian Heritage Information Network*.

Additional sources:
Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators (2012), by Emmanuel Benezit; Oxford University Press

Canadian Pictures: Thirty-Six Plates in Colour Illustrating Canadian Life and Scenery Reproduced from Original Drawings (1912), by Harold Copping; The Religious Tract Society, London

Canadian Heritage Information Network*

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com. Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx.

Submitted to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.