[[File:Punch - The Dogs of War.png|thumb|''The Dogs of War'', political cartoon by John Tenniel engraved by Joseph Swain, 17 June 1876, for ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' magazine, just at the outbreak of the [[Serbo-Turkish War (1876–78)|Serbo-Turkish War]]]]
'''Joseph Swain''' ([[Oxford]] 29 February 1820 – 25 February 1909 [[London]]) was an English wood-engraver. He is best known from his engravings in ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' magazine of cartoons by [[Sir John Tenniel]].

==Life==
Born in Oxford in 1820, he was second son of Ebenezer Swain by his wife Harriet James; Joseph Swain, pastor of East Street Baptist church, [[Walworth]], was his grandfather. He was educated at private schools, first in Oxford, and then in London, where the family moved in 1829.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB12|wstitle=Swain, Joseph|volume=3}}</ref>

In 1834 Swain was apprenticed by his father, a printer with the firm of Wertheimer & Co., to the wood-engraver [[Nathaniel Whittock]], and was transferred in 1837 to Thomas Williams, brother of [[Samuel Williams (engraver)|Samuel Williams]]. In 1843 he was appointed manager of the engraving department of ''Punch'', but in the following year set up in business for himself, retaining the whole of the engraving work for ''Punch'' from 1844 until 1900.<ref name="DNB"/>

He taught [[William Harcourt Hooper]].<ref name=BM>{{cite web|title=William Harcourt Hooper (Biographical details)|url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=120699|website=British Museum|accessdate=4 October 2014}}</ref>

Swain died at Ealing in west London in 1909.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Works==
[[File:Valkyrie and raven.jpg|thumb|''Valkyrie and Raven'', 1862 wood-engraving by Joseph Swain after [[Frederick Sandys]], illustration to the ''[[Hrafnsmál]]'']]
Swain was one of the most prolific wood-engravers of the nineteenth century. His own work is not always signed, and the signature "Swain sc" must be taken to include the engraving of assistants working for his firm. In the later 19th century his wood-engravings were generally printed from [[electrotype]]s; but those done for ''Punch'' were printed from the original wood-blocks.<ref name="DNB"/> 
 
Nearly all the illustrations in the ''[[Cornhill Magazine]]'' were engraved by Swain, and he also worked largely for other periodicals such as ''Once a Week'', ''[[Good Words]]'', ''The Argosy'', and for the publications of the [[Religious Tract Society]] and the [[Baptist Missionary Society]]. He engraving extensively after [[Frederick Walker (painter)|Fred Walker]], [[John Everett Millais]], [[Frederick Sandys]], [[Richard Doyle (illustrator)|Richard Doyle]], [[Richard Ansdell]], [[Fred Barnard]], and other major illustrators, from 1860 onwards.<ref name="DNB"/>

A series of articles on Fred Walker, [[Charles Henry Bennett]], [[George John Pinwell]], and [[Fritz Eltze]], which Swain wrote for ''Good Words'' (1888&ndash;89), were incorporated in ''Toilers in Art'', edited by Henry C. Ewart (1891).<ref name="DNB"/>

==Family==
In 1843 Swain married Martha Cooper. They had three daughters and a son, Joseph Blomeley Swain, who carried on the printing and engraving establishment.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{commons category|Joseph Swain}}

'''Attribution'''<!--Please do not reformat, for the sake of those using screen-readers-->

{{DNB12|wstitle=Swain, Joseph|volume=3}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Persondata
| NAME              = Swain, Joseph
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = British engraver
| DATE OF BIRTH     = 29 February 1820
| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
| DATE OF DEATH     = 25 February 1909
| PLACE OF DEATH    =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Joseph}}
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1909 deaths]]
[[Category:English engravers]]
[[Category:English businesspeople]]
[[Category:People from Oxford]]