Friday, April 10, 2015

I IS FOR ESTHER INGLIS

                                                                 (1571 - 1624)

     Esther Inglis was raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, by parents who were Protestant refugees from France (her surname is an Anglicized version of her father's, Langlois).  Her father was  Master of the French School in Edinburgh, and her mother was a calligrapher.  Like a small number of  European daughters of forward-thinking, well-educated parents, Inglis was given a good home-school education; she was probably taught the humanities by her father, and calligraphy by her mother.  In 1596 she married Batholomew Kello, who was a clergyman but who also worked as a clerk for James VI's Scottish court.  The couple moved to London by 1604 when James became king of England, and returned to Edinburgh in 1615, remaining there for the rest of Inglis's life.  They had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood.
     At a young age, Inglis had begun producing books; the texts were transcriptions of religious works, beautifully hand-written and illustrated.  After her marriage, she served as a scribe for Kello in his court-related work, but continued to produce her own books, eventually earning a reputation as one of the finest calligraphers in the British Isles.  In addition to creating lovely borders and illustrations, she also embroidered some of her books' covers with silver and gold thread and adorned them with seed pearls. 



     One of her specialties was producing as novelty items miniature volumes - about sixty in total, records show - each one two or three inches square, with the same kind of masterful illustrations as in the larger books but pared down in size as if to flaunt her expertise.  Another razzle-dazzle trick of hers was to use a different handwriting for each page of a book.  Inglis always signed her work, and often included self-portraits within them.  This was a woman who did not suffer from a lack of self-confidence.
     As you might imagine, marketing in the 16th-century wasn't quite as sophisticated as it is now, but Inglis and her husband were tireless entrepreneurs.  Reading about Inglis gives one the feeling that if she were alive today, she would be all over every form of social media and maybe even thinking up a few new forms on her own.  Inglis's practice was to dedicate each completed volume to a wealthy and/or powerful and/or royal person whom she didn't personally know, and her husband, acting as her publicist, would deliver them and hope for acceptance and payment from the recipients.  ("Hi!  Are Will and Kate home?  When do you think they'll be back?")  Often the books would include flattering letters and poems written by Kello in praise of the donees, signing himself as the "husband of the book's adorner."  After 1605, Inglis began making these unsolicited deliveries herself to the homes of the well-connected (generally Protestant) Londoners to whom she chose to dedicate the books.
     From 1607 until 1614, Inglis appears to have produced a total of only eight books.  This period coincided with the time when her husband was employed as rector of a church in Essex, which might suggest that the couple felt they no longer had to rely on her calligraphy income.  But although Inglis's work was very highly regarded during her lifetime, she died in debt.  Sad, right?  After all that hard work?  Ah, but we know what Robert Burns, Inglis's  fellow Scotsman, had to say about the best-laid plans of mice and men...


16 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Martha! Nine letters down, 17 to go! Let's keep on keeping on!

      Delete
  2. I'd love to see her work. The images are enticing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed. Those tiny books must have been incredible! Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Thank you! And thanks so much for the follow! I hope you enjoy my J - Z too.

      Delete
  4. I didn't even know calligraphy was a job in the 16th century... It sounds like she put so much work into each book!

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
    MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny you should mention not knowing that calligraphy was a job in that era. Apparently one of the reasons Inglis's books were so prized is that the Age of Print had almost completely taken over by then, and people were already starting to get nostalgic for homemade books!

      Delete
  5. What a fantastic amount of work must have gone into each miniature volume. The painstaking embroidery and beading work alone would have been daunting. It is sad that she died in debt--apparently the arts were as unprofitable then as they tend to be now. I love that her husband described himself as "husband of the book's adorner." Great post--thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was worried that people might find Inglis boring because the content of her books wasn't original, only her designs were. But it seems the opposite is true! So glad to hear you liked reading about her.

      Delete
  6. The best laid plans of women as well then...tragic that such painstaking art did not pay. Come to think of it, not much has changed since then.

    Thanks for your words on my blog and here. Each post, not just this one, is a treasure.

    Ciao
    Nilanjana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Nila. I would say exactly the same about your posts as well.

      Delete
  7. Yup, she definitely sounds like she would love Twitter. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And designing customized books in the hopes that specific rich peope would want to buy them... Talk about a risky business! Thanks for visiting, Madeline.

      Delete
  8. Esther was certainly a talented and progressive woman. Her needlework on the covers of her books is incredible and treasured works of art in their own right. Imagine having one dedicated to you...yes, you'd pay handsomely.

    I'm so enjoying your posts....I've been reading everyone. Great history lessons!
    Sue at CollectInTexas Gal
    AtoZ 2015 Challenge
    Minion for AJ's wHooligans

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you so much, Sue! Funny thing - I actually hated history when I was a kid. The teachers made it all about memorizing dates of famous battles. It took me decades to realize that "history" was really just about people and how they spent their lives!

    ReplyDelete