SOURCE: Halsband, Robert. “Hogarth's Graphic Friendships: Illustrating Books by Friends.” In Johnson and His Age, edited by James Engell, pp. 333-66. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984.

In the following essay, Halsband examines Hogarth's secondary career as a book illustrator for such notable eighteenth-century authors as Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne.

As a painter and draftsman-engraver William Hogarth ranks high in eighteenth-century British art. As a book illustrator, although here he expresses a lesser aspect of his genius, he is worthy of attention as well.¹ When he illustrated works by contemporary writers whom he knew personally, we can examine the illustrations in a biographical context to supplement other relevant contexts. His friendships with writers cover a wide range, from close intimacy (as with William Huggins) at one extreme, to that of mere acquaintanceship at the other. The types of literature he illustrated are likewise varied: a collection of essays...