Edmund Hort New


Edmund Hort New was an English artist, member of the Birmingham Group, and leading illustrator of his day.

Life and work

New was born in Evesham Worcestershire, a cousin of Thomas New. He studied at the Birmingham Municipal School of Art under Edward R. Taylor and A. J. Gaskin, becoming known in the 1890s as an illustrator in the black-and-white style of the Arts and Crafts movement. He specialised in pen and ink drawings of rural and urban landscapes, old buildings and their interiors, architectural features, and also designed bookplates.
New provided illustrations for the English Illustrated Magazine and was commissioned by the Bodley Head publishing house to work on critically acclaimed editions of books, such as The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton and The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White.
In 1895, New was invited to meet William Morris at Kelmscott Manor, and went on to provide design work for the Kelmscott Press as well as illustrating Morris's two-volume biography by J. W. Mackail. Between 1896 and 1914, New provided hundreds of illustrations for over 50 books for various publishers. He also taught drawing to T. E. Lawrence.
In 1905, New moved from Evesham, the place of his birth, to Oxford where he started work on a series of drawings of the University of Oxford colleges, a project which was to occupy him for the rest of his life and remain unfinished. The drawings were engraved by Emery Walker and sold as the "New Loggan Prints". He also provided further illustrations for a series of books called the "College monographs".
In 1912 New designed the banner for the Oxford Women Students' Society for Women's Suffrage
In 1921 New exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of Graphic Art in London.
New has been variously described as "deeply religious, scrupulous and patient in everything", "a life and a life's work of rare unity", "half artist and half saint", and "well read, especially in poetry and talked about art and literature with a sincerity that was very charming". He lived throughout his life on a modest income and suffered from diabetes. He was a member of the Society of Friends.

Books illustrated by E. H. New

  • Alfred Austin. '.
  • Francis Bacon, Helen Milman '.
  • C. R. Ashbee, The Last Records of a Cotswold Community.
  • F. G. Brabant. '.
  • F. G. Brabant. Sussex.
  • F. G. Brabant. '.
  • Egerton Castle. ', pp 256–257.
  • G. A. J. Cole. '.
  • Algernon Gissing. '.
  • Algernon Gissing. '.
  • Alfred Harvey. '.
  • C. G. Holme. ', pp 101–106.
  • William Holden Hutton. '.
  • William Angus Knight. '.
  • F. A. H. Lambert. Surrey.
  • J. W. Mackail. '.
  • J. W. Mackail. '.
  • Helen R. A. Milman. '.
  • Helen R. A. Milman. Outside the Garden
  • E. H. New. '.
  • A. Hamilton Thompson. '.
  • E. H. New. The new Loggan guide to Oxford Colleges.
  • Herbert W./ Tompkins. '
  • Herbert W. Tompkins. '.
  • Isaak Walton, Charles Cotton, Richard Le Gallienne. '.
  • Lawrence Weaver. '.
  • Joseph Wells. Oxford and its Colleges.
  • Gilbert White, Grant Allen.'.
  • B. C. A. Windle. Chester; a Historical and Topographical Account of the City.
  • B. C. A. Windle. '.
;The "College Monographs" series :