Pennell Correspondence (MSS 014)

Biographical note

Joseph Pennell (1857-1926) was a prolific and influential illustrator as well as an author. Born in Philadelphia, Pennell eventually made London his home for 36 years, and travelled across Europe with his wife and longtime collaborator, Elizabeth Robins, producing illustrations for travel books. The Pennell’s became close to many of the artists of the period, especially James McNeill Whistler whose biography they wrote together. Engraving was Pennell’s early medium of choice, but he embraced lithography in the 1890s. Among his most notable lithographs is the poster he produced to encourage purchases of Liberty Bonds during World War I.