David Jones (1895 - 1974)

Wood engraving
10.7 x 16.2 cm
A rare proof impression apart from the numbered edition of 15 copies.
Issued separately form 'The Book of Jonah', Golden Cockerel Press, 1926

In 1924 David Jones moved to Wales. He spent much of his time working in a former monastery at Capel-y-ffin while also being a frequent guest of the Benedictine monks on Caldey Island which lies off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Catholicism had become a key component of his engravings. He would sit in the monastery scriptorium, working in a manner reminiscent of the medieval artisans he so admired. It was during his time at Capel-y-ffin that the Golden Cockerel Press commissioned Jones to illustrate The Book of Jonah (1926). Innovative in its layout, the publication featured images that often adopted an L- shaped format, curving around and enclosing the text.

The region’s erratic weather frequently forced Jones indoors, and the notion of shelter emerged as a recurring theme in his work. This is evident in The Sun Beats Down on Jonah (1926) in which Jonah shields himself from the burning sun while serpent-like vegetation coils around him. The imagery alludes to the struggle between good and evil—a further motif that became prominent in Jones’s engravings from this period.