A contributor traced through a London address
The clearest personal reference to Nunn appears in Weatherly’s preface, dated November 1891. He gives the address 49 Watling Street, London, and thanks Nunn for helping with illustrations at short notice. London Post Office directory entries list T. C. Nunn & Co. at the same address as lithographic draughtsmen. One entry describes work on maps, plans, show cards and catalogues, placing the name within the commercial drawing and printing trade.
The matching initials and address connect the book’s acknowledgement with that business, but the entries do not establish Nunn’s full given names, training or life dates. They also leave open how work was divided within the firm. The surviving credit is most useful as evidence of an illustrator’s professional contribution to a particular publishing project.
Making a collaborative book visible
Weatherly explains that Nunn carried out Nevil Maskelyne’s ideas for illustrating the chapters written by Nevil’s father, J. N. Maskelyne. He then helped with additional work when other assistance was limited. That account distinguishes the person proposing an illustration from the person making the drawing, and Nunn from the authors whose arguments the pictures accompanied.
The book brings medical discussions of perception, dreams and hallucinations together with Maskelyne’s practical criticism of conjuring claims, Spiritualism and Theosophy. Its pictures came from several sources: Weatherly separately acknowledges Dr Aveline, borrowed negatives from G. R. Tweedie and two reproduced drawings by Phiz. Nunn’s role belongs within that wider collaboration. New drawings, borrowed photographic material and reused illustrations all contributed to the finished volume.
