Charles Pye
Charles Pye Jr. (Birmingham 1777–1864) was a British engraver from Birmingham. He illustrated topographical subjects, and published a Holy Family after Michelangelo.
Charles Pye

Charles Pye · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection · Public Domain Mark
- Died
- Charles Pye died on 14 December 1864. · Leamington Spa.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Great Britain · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- engraver · bookseller
- Teachers
- James Heath
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Charles Pye Jr. (Birmingham 1777–1864) was a British engraver from Birmingham. He illustrated topographical subjects, and published a Holy Family after Michelangelo.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Charles Pye (died 1864) was a bookseller and engraver, of British and British nationality. The bookseller was born in Birmingham and died in Leamington Spa. Charles Pye worked in Birmingham and lived in Leamington Spa.
Languages used include English. Works are held at National Library of Wales and Yale Center for British Art.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 30 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q18761918
In this article
Life
Life
Training under James Heath is recorded. Charles John Smith is recorded as having studied under Charles Pye. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are Birmingham. Residence is recorded at Leamington Spa. Work by Charles Pye is recorded in the collections of National Library of Wales and Yale Center for British Art.
Pye was the elder son of Charles Pye Sr. (see below), an engraver in Birmingham, and the brother of landscape engraver John Pye. He was a pupil of James Heath. During his later years, Pye lived in Leamington. A trade card (proof before engraved letters) is in the Heal Collection (Heal, 59.124) and advertises "C. Pye Engraver, No.14 Charton St. Sommerstown."
Works
Works
• Illustration — Charles Pye, 1814 engraving of Castle Hill Lodge, Ealing Pye's engravings were published in collections including: • Beauties of England Illustrated • Hunter's History of London • Cadell & Davies, Britannia depicta. • J. Scott and P. B. de la Boissière, Picturesque Views of the City of Paris and its Environs (1823) Pye supplied engravings to designs by William Westall for the early issues of John Poole's The Regent, Or, Royal Tablet of Memory. In 1820 he published a letter, from Euston Square, on his experiments with relief etching on copper, in The London Journal of Arts and Sciences.
Charles Pye senior
Charles Pye senior
In numismatics, the elder Charles Pye was associated with the Soho Mint. He worked with Sarah Sophia Banks to issue a catalogue of tokens, illustrated by his own engravings, for collectors. He published A Correct and Complete Representation of all the Provincial Copper Coins, Tokens of Trade, and Cards of Address, on Copper, Which were circulated as such between the Years 1787 and 1801 (1801). A third edition of this book was edited by Arthur William Waters, and appeared in 1916 as a limited edition. Pye also published Birmingham directories, and A Description of Modern Birmingham (c.1819).
Identity
Identity
Charles Pye is recorded as a citizen of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Recorded with the occupation bookseller. Recorded with the occupation engraver.

The river and bridge in the grounds of Eton College, Berkshire. Line engraving by C. Pye., by Charles Pye
Charles Pye · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection

Johannes Theodorus van der
Charles Pye · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1776
Charles Pye was born on 1 January 1777.
1864
Charles Pye died on 14 December 1864.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Charles Pye was born at Birmingham.
Birthplace
Charles Pye died at Leamington Spa.
Deathplace
Leamington Spa
Residences
Birmingham.
Birth place
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Charles Pye stands. The Says near Monmouth. Seat of Mr. Formation and teaching. He trained under James Heath. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
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.Conlin, Jonathan. Pye, Charles.
- 2.Press, Oxford University. Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators. OUP USA. 241. 2012-06-21. 9780199923052.
- 3.British Museum. Charles Pye (Biographical details).
- 4.Bernard Adams. London Illustrated, 1604–1851: A Survey and Index of Topographical Books and Their Plates. Oryx Press. 238, 241, 242. 1 January 1983. 978-0-85365-734-7.
- 5.Bernard Adams. London Illustrated, 1604–1851: A Survey and Index of Topographical Books and Their Plates. Oryx Press. 248. 1 January 1983. 978-0-85365-734-7.
- 6.Maj, Yale Center for British Art, Lec. Britannia depicta. collections.britishart.yale.edu.
- 7.Sandro Jung, The Illustrated Pocket Diary: Generic Continuity and Innovation, 1820-40, Victorian Periodicals Review Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring 2012), pp. 23–48 at p. 40. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals
- 8.Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. The London Journal of Arts and Sciences. 55–8. 1820.
- 9.Sue Tungate, Matthew Boulton and the Soho Mint: Copper to the Customer, 2010 Ph.D. Dissertation, at p. 236
- 10.John Barrell, Radicalism, Visual Culture, and Spectacle in the 1790s, Field Day Review, Vol. 4 (2008), pp. 40–61, at p. 49. Published by: Field Day Publications.
- 11.Pye, Charles. A Correct and Complete Representation of all the Provincial Copper Coins, Tokens of Trade, and Cards of Address, on Copper, Which were circulated as such between the Years 1787 and 1801, when they were entirely superseded; a new copper coinage being at that time in circulation, issued by authority of government. Matthew Young. 1801.
- 12.Bell, Robert Charles. Tradesmen's Tickets and Private Tokens, 1785-1819. Corbitt & Hunter. 182. 1966.
- 13.Longman, W. Tokens of the eighteenth century connected with booksellers & bookmakers (authors, printers, publishers, engravers, and paper makers). Longmans, Green & Co. 72–3. 1916.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
Secondary witness
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 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Charles Paul Jean-Baptiste de Bourgevin Vialart de Saint-MorysEngraver
- Charles Paul LandonEngraver
- Charles Picart Le DouxEngraver
- Charles PicquéEngraver
- Charles RivièreEngraver
- Charles RobertsonEngraver
- Charles RochussenEngraver
- Charles RollsEngraver
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