Philibert Charles Berjeau was a natural history illustrator and lithographer, active in London in the late Victorian era. His subjects varied widely, including mammals, reptiles and especially birds, as well as fossils.
Life and work
Philibert Charles was born in Paris, France, on 10 July 1845 to Jean Philibert Berjeau and his wife Marceline Adolphine. He was the eldest son and had three surviving sisters, Jenny, Marguerite Alexandrine and Lucy C.S., along with a brother Maurice. Following the coup of Napoleon III, who overthrew the French Second Republic, the family was exiled to England in 1850-1, moving to Eastcastle Street in London, W.1, where Lucy and Maurice were born. By 1861 the family had relocated to 50 Georgiana Street in Camden Town, where he was still living in 1871, aged 25. Although he had returned to live with his parents by the time of the 1871 census, Berjeau had made his way to France to help defend his native city during the Siege of Paris. He wrote a letter to his landlady, Mrs Susanna Crockford, of 190 Camden Road, London, NW 10, which was sent by balloon post from Paris, dated 17 November 1870, whilst he was serving with the Artillery de la Seine, 10th Batterie 4th Piece: Berjeau's father was an author, editor and engraver; in 1862 he published Le Bibliophile Illustré, claiming "Texte et Gravures par J. Ph. Berjeau". His book on horses, published in London in 1864, has the list of plates in both English and French. He followed in his father's footsteps with a skill in engraving. He started to publish his own engravings at an early age with a book of drawings of dogs, soon followed by another on horses. In 1866 he collaborated with his father on Beggars, Rogues, and Vagabonds: he made the drawings and his father engraved them. He made illustrations for the British Museum of Natural History, and for the journal of the Geological Society of London. He made a sketch of the Sumatran rhinoceros which gave birth in Charles William Rice's stables on Commercial Road in December 1872. He worked as an illustrator for Robert Falcon Scott's S.S. Discovery expedition of 1901-1904, and the National Arctic Expedition of 1907-1912. Berjeau married Fanny Turner in Lambeth during the first quarter of 1874. Fanny survived her husband, living at 5 Beacon Hill, Holloway, Middlesex, as her final home, and died on 13 May 1930 at 77a Highgate Hill, Highgate, Middlesex.
Works (written and illustrated)
', London: Dulau & Co, 1863
', London: Dulau & Co., 1864
Beggars, Rogues, and Vagabonds. Drawn from life by Charles Berjeau. Engraved by Jean Philibert Berjeau, 1866
Works illustrated
Lectures on Surgical Anatomy, by John Chiene, 1878
Tabulate Corals of the Paleozoic, by Henry A. Nicholson], 1879
