W. S. Johnson

W. S. Johnson made prints in the mid-1800s, leaving behind the H Beard Print Collection between 1846 and 1890. Their work sits in that crowded print-shop era when shops like the one on Fleet Street turned out affordable, hand-colored images for parlors and pubs. Look at *H Beard Print Collection* from mid-century—thin paper, soft ink, the kind of picture that might have been pinned above a mantel or tucked into a scrapbook. Tap any print to see the crackle of the plate mark and the fingerprints of the pressman still in the margins.