Agnes Miller Parker
Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980) was a Scottish engraver, illustrator and painter in oil and tempera. Agnes Miller Parker was born in Ayrshire, she spent most of her career in London and southern Britain. She is especially known as a twentieth century wood-engraver thanks to her collaboration with H. Bates, which resulted in two outstanding wood engraved books: Through the Woods (1936) and Down the River (1937), published by Victor Gollancz.
Also recorded as Agnes Miller McCance · Agnes Parker
Agnes Miller Parker
- Born
- 3 April 1895
- Birthplace
- Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland
- Died
- 15 November 1980
- Place of death
- Greenock, Scotland
- Education
- Glasgow School of Art
- Field
- Illustration
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- illustrator · painter · artist
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980) was a Scottish engraver, illustrator and painter in oil and tempera. Agnes Miller Parker was born in Ayrshire, she spent most of her career in London and southern Britain. She is especially known as a twentieth century wood-engraver thanks to her collaboration with H. Bates, which resulted in two outstanding wood engraved books: Through the Woods (1936) and Down the River (1937), published by Victor Gollancz.
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wikidata · Q4693086 · wikipedia · Agnes Miller Parker
In this article
Biography
Biography
Agnes Miller Parker studied at Glasgow School of Art. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is illustration. Work by Agnes Miller Parker is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Art Institute of Chicago, Auckland Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada and National Galleries Scotland.
Key facts
Key facts
• Born — 3 April 1895 • Birthplace — Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland • Died — 15 November 1980 • Place of death — Greenock, Scotland • Education — Glasgow School of Art • Field — Illustration
Biography
Biography
Agnes Miller Parker (name on birth certificate Agnes Millar Parker) was born on 3 April 1895 at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1911 to 1917, and during that time resided with her family in Riddrie. She subsequently joined the staff of the School for a short period. In 1918 she married the painter William McCance; thereafter, she passed most of her career in London and southern Britain. In 1955 they separated and Parker moved to Glasgow. They officially divorced in 1963 when she went to live in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. She died in 1980 at Greenock. Parker's early paintings, as well as those of her husband, reflect the short-lived group of artists known as Vorticists, active in London in the 1920s. The main body of her work consists of wood-engravings for book illustrations that demonstrate fine draughtsmanship and skilful use of black and white design. She illustrated The Fables of Aesop (1931), Through the Woods by H. E. Bates (1936), The Open Air by Richard Jefferies (edited by Samuel J. Looker, 1949) and her most acclaimed work, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray (1938), titles for the Limited Editions Club of New York and editions of the works of Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1895
Agnes Miller Parker born at Ayrshire.
1980
Agnes Miller Parker died.
Books illustrated
• Rhoda Power – How It Happened: Myths & Folk Tales (CUP, 1930) • Aesop – The Fables of Esope (Gregynog Press, 1933) • Rhys Davies et al. – Daisy Matthews and Three Other Tales (GCP, 1932) • John Sampson – XXI Welsh Gypsy Tales (Gregynog Press, 1933) • H. E. Bates – The House with The Apricot (GCP, 1933) • Adrien Le Corbeau – The Forest Giant (Cape, 1935) • H. E. Bates – Through The Woods (Gollancz, 1936) • H. E. Bates – Down The River (Gollancz, 1937) • Thomas Gray – Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1940) • A.E. Housman – A Shropshire Lad (Harrap, 1940) • William Shakespeare – Richard II (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1940) • Thomas Hardy – The Return Of The Native (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1942) • Herbert Furst – Essays In Russet (Muller, 1944) • Richard Jefferies – Spring Of The Year (Lutterworth, 1946) • Richard Jefferies – Life Of The Fields (Lutterworth, 1947) • Richard Jefferies – The Old House At Coate (Lutterworth, 1948) • Richard Jefferies – Field and Hedgerow (Lutterworth, 1948) • Andrew McCormick – The Gold Torque: A Story of Galloway in Early Christian Times (Glasgow: McLellan, 1951) • Aloysius Roche – Animals Under The Rainbow (Welwyn: Broad Water press, 1952) • Edmund Spenser – The Faerie Queen (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1953) • Eiluned Lewis – Honey Pots and Brandy Bottles (Country Life, 1954) • John Cowper Powys – Lucifer (MacDonald, 1956) • Thomas Hardy – Tess of the d'Urbervilles (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1956) • Thomas Hardy – Far From The Madding Crowd (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1958) • William Shakespeare – The Tragedies (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1959) • Thomas Hardy – The Mayor of Casterbridge (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1967) • William Shakespeare – Poems (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1967) • Thomas Hardy – Jude The Obscure (NY: Limited Editions Club, 1969)
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Rogerson, Ian. Agnes Miller Parker. Wood Engraver and Book Illustrator, 1895-1980. The Fleece Press. 13. 1990.
- 2.McEwan, Peter. The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture. Glengarden Press. 432. 2004.
- 3.Rogerson, Ian. The Wood Engravings of Agnes Miller Parker. British Library. 2005. 978-0-9762245-4-9.
- 4.Strang, Alice. Modern Scottish Women. Painters and Sculptors. 1885-1965. National Galleries of Scotland. 88. 2015.
- 5.Paul Harris & Julian Halsby. The Dictionary of Scottish Painters 1600 to the Present. Canongate. 1990. 1-84195-150-1.
- 6."Life In The Open",(Review of The Open Air), The Glasgow Herald, 16 December 1948 (p. 3).
Bibliography printed in the source article · 5
- Ian Rogerson, Agnes Miller Parker: catalogue of an exhibition of printed books (1983. Manchester Polytechnic)
- Ian Rogerson, Agnes Miller Parker, wood-engraver and book illustrator, 1895-1980 (1990. Wakefield, Fleece Press)
- Ian Rogerson, Agnes Miller Parker: wood engravings from the Fables of Esope (1996. Newtown, Gwasg Gregynog)
- Ian Rogerson, Agnes Miller Parker: wood engravings from XXI Welsh gypsy folk-tales (1997. Newtown, Gwasg Gregynog)
- Ian Rogerson, The Wood Engravings of Agnes Miller Parker (2005. London, British Library)
References
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Further particulars
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Recognition and collections
Work by Agnes Miller Parker is
National Gallery of Victoria, Art Institute of Chicago, Auckland Art Gallery and National Gallery of Canada
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Illustration
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- Aguri IgarashiIllustrator
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