# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Cooper, James Davis

​COOPER, JAMES DAVIS (1823–1904), wood-engraver, born at Pratt's Place, Lambeth, on 18 Nov. 1823, was son of George and Emily Cooper. He belonged to a family of musicians who from father to son were organists at St. Sepulchre's, Snow Hill, for over one hundred years. His father, George Cooper, besides being organist at St. Sepulchre's, was assistant organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, under Thomas Attwood [q. v.] as well as at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, under Sir George Smart [q. v.]. George Cooper, elder brother to James Davis, succeeded his father, on his death in 1832, in all these posts, and was at one time organist at Christ's Hospital, Newgate Street. James Davis entered the City of London School in Feb. 1837, as one of the original scholars, and leaving in December of the same year passed into the studio of Josiah Whymper [q. v. Suppl. II], the wood-engraver, in Canterbury Road, Lambeth. During his apprenticeship he rapidly developed the talent which made him one of the most successful engravers of the period known as the 'sixties,' when the art of wood-engraving enjoyed a noteworthy revival. From 1848 he lived in Ely Place, Holborn, then in Camberwell till 1854, when he moved to 26 Great James Street, Bedford Row. His office was here till about 1860, when he established his business at 188 Strand.
Among Cooper's earlier works were the engraved illustrations to 'Favourite English Poems' (1859), Mrs. Barbauld's 'Hymns in Prose' (1863), and Robert Barnes' 'Pictures of English Life ' (n.d.. c. 1865). Later, he worked with Randolph Caldecott [q. v.] on the well-known illustrations for the Macmillan edition of Washington Irving's 'Old Christmas' (1876) and 'Bracebridge Hall' (1877). The excellence of his craftsmanship may be judged by a comparison of his engravings for Caldecott's 'Breton Folk' (text by H. Blackburn, 1880) with the original drawings, which are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Many illustrated books, like the first four mentioned above, were entirely planned by Cooper ; and whilst seeking suitable artists to carry out his ideas, he discovered and encouraged the talent of such men as Robert Barnes, Caldecott, E. M. Wimperis, and William Small. Cooper also engraved the illustrations for works by many eminent authors. His handiwork appears in Queen Victoria's 'Our Life in the Highlands' (1868) and in 'The Prince of Wales' Tour in India' (by Sir W. H. Russell, 1877). He was responsible for the illustrations to books by Darwin, ​Huxley, Tyndall, Owen, Livingstone and others. In his engravings for Stanley's 'How I found Livingstone' (1872) and 'In Darkest Africa' (1890) he showed remarkable skill and intuition as an interpreter of the hints for landscape, groups of natives, animals or weapons, given in Stanley's rough but suggestive sketches. Among his later work were the engravings for 'Pictures from Shelley' (1892) after designs by Etheline E. Dell.
Cooper lived to see the art of wood-engraving superseded by photographic processes. Owing to this and failing eyesight he retired from active work some years before his death. Jovial and breezy in manner, full of kindness and geniality, the old 'wood-pecker,' as he described himself, died at his residence, Rothesay, North Road, Highgate, on 27 Feb. 1904, and was buried at the Great Northern cemetery. On 20 July 1848 he married Jane Eleanor, daughter of Benjamin Ovington, a clerk in the Bank of England. He had three sons and four daughters. The latter were each awarded in 1905 a civil list pension of 25l.
[The Times, 4 March 1904; Builder, 5 March 1904; Publishers' Circular, 12 and 19 March 1904; private information,]
M. H.