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Virtue & Company Publishing

Artist Info
Virtue & Company PublishingEnglish (London), 1830 - 1850

George C. Virtue (1794 – 8 December 1868) was a 19th-century London publisher, well known for printing engravings. His publishing house was located at 26 Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, London, EC.

Pictorial publisher

Virtue selected accomplished artists, employed the best engravers, and produced books that were rarely surpassed in elegance and correctness for the period. Chief among his publications were the following, all illustrated by William Henry Bartlett: Switzerland, by William Beattie, 2 vols. 1836; Scotland, by W. Beattie, 1838; The Waldenses, by W. Beattie, 1838; American Scenery, 2 vols. 1840; Description of the Beauties of the Bosphorus, by Julia Pardoe, 1840; and The Danube, its History and Scenery, by W. Beattie, 1844. Virtue created a prodigious business, issuing upwards of twenty thousand copper and steel engravings through his career.

Magazine publisher

In 1848, Virtue purchased two magazines. One was an art publication, The Art Union, which had been founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, then purchased in 1847 by Chapman & Hall. The second purchase was controlling interest in Sharpe's London Magazine, a literary and cultural magazine, Arthur Hall publisher. In 1849, Virtue renamed the art magazine The Art Journal and, in time, it became known as the premier art publication of Great Britain. Also in 1849, he created a new firm with Arthur Hall called "Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co.".

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Barnaby Rudge
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.32
Bleak House
Object Name: Book Vol.16
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.38
Christmas Books, Dickens Complete Works
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.30
Dickens Complete Works, Great Expectations
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.29
Domby and Son
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.35
Hard Times and Pictures From Italy
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.33
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.34
Little Dorrit
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.36
The Old Curiosity Shop
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.31
Our Mutual Friend
Object Name: Book Vol. 17
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.39
The Pickwick Club
Object Name: Book
Virtue & Company Publishing
Object number: 96.4.37