William Kilburn (1745–1818) was a highly regarded designer of block-printed cottons in the 18th century. Born in Dublin, he was apprenticed to a cotton and linen printer at Lucan. He moved to London and sold designs to printers, and drawings and engravings to print shops.
These beautifully executed designs have been extracted from the Kilburn Album, one of the V&A’s most treasured possessions. Informative text accompanies each work and the datepad features previous and next month’s views.