(1819 - 1903)
Wood-engraver and journalist Mason Jackson was born in Ovington, Northumberland; the son of a farmer. His older brother, John, was also an engraver. Mason followed his brother to London in c.1830 and trained under him. In 1836 he engraved designs for wrappers for Dickens’s ‘Pickwick Papers’ and S. C. Hall’s ‘Book of British Ballads’. He continued as a wood-engraver until 1863, producing illustrations for the ‘Art Union of London’, ‘Cassell’s Illustrated Paper’ and the ‘Illustrated London Almanack’. He also exhibited landscapes at the Royal Academy and elsewhere (1856-79). His book ‘The Pictorial Press: its origins and progress’ was published in 1885. He became Art Editor of the ‘Illustrated London News’ (1860-95). He died at the age of 84.
