ART

Three Autograph Letters Signed (two 'Leonard Walker' and the other 'L. W.') to C. R. Grundy, concerning a stained-glass window.

Author: 
Leonard Walker (1877-1964), Principal of the St John's Wood School of Art, and member of the Art Workers Guild [Cecil Reginald Grundy (1870-1944), editor of the Connoisseur]
Leonard Walker, Stained Glass, Letters
Publication details: 
16, 17 and 31 December 1935; all three items on letterhead of Walker's studio in King Henry's Road, London.
£110.00
Leonard Walker, Stained Glass, Letters

All three items 8vo. The first of two pages, and the other two of one page each. Texts clear and complete. Fair on aged, creased and slightly-discoloured paper. Discussing his disagreement with the architect of a building over the width of two proposed uprights. Walker considers that these 'would handicap the fullest expression'. The first letter carries a simple pencil diagram of the window. He feels 'we shall all have forgotten this point' when the window is seen 'in all its glory'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Ashby-Sterry') to 'my dear Worth'.

Author: 
Joseph Ashby-Sterry (c.1835-1917), English novelist, poet and artist, contributor to 'The Graphic' under the name 'Bystander'
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter
Publication details: 
18 July 1872; 3 Plowden Buildings, Temple.
£38.00
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter

16mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Eight lines. Text clear and complete. On stained, aged paper. An uncommon autograph, written in a distinctive stylised hand in purple ink. Reluctantly announcing his inability to go on 'the Barge trip', which he had looked upon 'as the pleasantest excursion of the year, & alas & alas (not that a lass has any thing to do with my engagement) I shall be unable to be with you'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Russell Flint') to L. Carpenter of Leigh-on-Sea, discussing his artistic development.

Author: 
Sir William Russell Flint (1880-1969), British artist
Publication details: 
8 July 1948; on his Peel Cottage, Campden Hill, letterhead.
£280.00

4to, 2 pp. Twenty-three lines of text, clear and complete. In fair condition, creased and lightly-worn. With stamped envelope addressed by Flint. In reply to a question from Carpenter ('I very, very freqently receive letters such as yours') Flint writes: 'Dont worry about not receiving art instruction in painting because I never had a lesson in my life.' He believes he inherited the skill he 'started with', but constant study of the works of masters & constant practice have brought me (with the aid of a kindly Providence) to my present position'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed "H. Thomson" and "Hugh Thomson" to [J.C.] Dollman, artist, discussing golf and illustrating his humour, physical failings and research.

Author: 
Hugh Thomson, artist-illustrator
Publication details: 
5 Playfair Mansions, West Kensington, 23 March n.y. and 27 Perhap Road, West Kensington, 12 Feb. 1906.
£180.00

Total 5pp., 8vo, one sl.marked but mainly good condition. [March 23] He commiserates on "domestic troubles" and says what a disaster it would have been if the completion of a picture had been delayed. "You will be sorry to hear that I am confiend to the house with varicose veins in the leg. The trouble has arisen through bicycling, a maniac of the wheel having induced me to scorch over half a county with him. I am consequently obliged to give up the treat I promised myself in seeing your pivture at your studio but I mean to ahe- honour the Academy with a visit . . .

Autograph Letter Signed to Dollman.

Author: 
John Hassall (1868-1948), English illustrator
Publication details: 
10 November 1906; on letterhead of 88 Kensington Park Road, W. [London]
£56.00

8vo, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, lightly-creased and with small closed tears at edges of central crease. From the context of other items in the same collection, this letter relates to an 'Artists general Benevolent Banquet' (for which Dollman was acting as steward). Hassall writes that the previous year he 'got into trouble through giving subscriptions to stewards of other society's than the R[oyal]. I[nstitution].', so that 'if there's to be an R. I. table this year I must support it for all I'm worth'.

Autograph Note Signed to [J.C.] Dollman, artist [Artist's General Benevolent Fund etc]

Author: 
Byam Shaw, artist and illustrator
Publication details: 
62 Addison Road, Kensington, W [London], 1 May 1907
£56.00

Two pages (but large handwriting), 8vo, conjoined leaves, good condition. "I write to thank you most sincerely, for your kind letter about my picture. I think it was very kind indeed to trouble to write. I appreciate it very much."

Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism. The Tate Gallery. 6 July - 19 August 1956.

Author: 
Wyndham Lewis [Tate Gallery, 1956; Sir John Rothenstein]
Publication details: 
London: Tate Gallery, 1956.
£45.00

4to: 36 pp + 12 pp of prints on art paper. Stapled. In striking original printed red card wraps. With A4 addendum leaf loosely inserted. Good, with light stain to bottom outer corner. Important two-page introduction by Lewis, reviewing his career, followed by three-page essay by Rothenstein on 'Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism'.

Elizabeth Frink. Sculpture and Drawings. 4th June-25th June 1959.

Author: 
Elizabeth Frink [The Waddington Galleries]
Publication details: 
London: The Waddington Galleries, 2 Cork Street, W1. [Printed by Graphis Press Ltd, London.]
£45.00

8vo: 4 pp. Wih four pages of illustrations on art paper, the first being a full-page photographic portrait of Frink by Peter Collins. Stapled. In original blue printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged paper. No copy on COPAC.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Walter'), in German, to 'Mein lieber Bert!'

Author: 
Walter Koschatzky (1921-2003), German art critic
Publication details: 
28 March 1939; on his letterhead as 'Direktor der Cöpenicker Boden Akt. Ges. Wolfsgarten u. der Erkner Berliner Vorort-Terrainges. mbH.'
£75.00

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. 59 lines of text. Clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper, with 4.5 cm closed tears to the outer edge of central horizontal fold to both leaves. A large part of the letter would appear to concern washing machines, including a reference to a new one on the American market, called the 'Waterflex'. A few lines in English at end: 'Many thanks for your Birthday-carte. Sorry year it arrived 1 month to [sic] late.' Sends love to 'Dorothy', and reference in text to 'Kajitan': 'Das wird Dir bestimmt Freude machen. Das ist alles viel besser als die Politik.

Autograph Letter Signed and three Autograph Cards Signed ('jean Duranel' and 'J. Duranel'), to his patron Lawrence Ives, with two invitations to his shows and a paper cut-out.

Author: 
Jean Duranel (born 1946), French artist [Lawrence A. Ives]
Publication details: 
Between 1982 and 1992; France.
£100.00

All the items except the cut-out and the last card (in which he gives the price of a painting) are damp-stained, with part of the text of the letter illegible. One card in French. The first card, from 1982, thanks Ives for payment for 'watercolors'. The cut-out, in red paper, is roughly 10 x 10 cm. Intricately-cut, it depicts a long-leaved plant in a basket on legs. Although found with the other items, there is no indication that it is by Duramel. Ives made the news in 2000, when his extensive collection of paintings by L. S. Lowry was put up for sale.

One Signed Letter, in the hand of a secretary, four Typed Letter Signed and two Typed Notes Signed (all seven 'Fred Burridge') to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Frederick Vango Burridge [Frederick Burridge; Fred Burridge; Fred. V. Burridge] (1869-1945), Principal, Central School of Arts and Crafts, London [G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.]
Publication details: 
1917 (1), 1918 (4) and 1919 (2). All on letterhead of London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts, Southampton Row, W.C. [London]
£165.00

All seven items 4to, 1 p. Each docketed and bearing the stamp of the Royal Society of Arts. All good, on lightly-aged paper. The first is in a secretarial hand, with the other six all typed. Item One: 4 December 1917. He doesn't 'quite understand' from Menzies' letter what it is that he wants him to do. 'From what Mr.

Two printed texts, each illuminated by hand in colours.

Author: 
Elbert Hubbard [Elbert Green Hubbard] (1856-1915), American writer, publisher, artist, associated with the Arts and Crafts movement [Roycroft Press]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated. Each carrying the Roycroft Press device.
£450.00

Each item is on a sheet of laid paper, 39 x 29 cm, and each with the Roycroft watermark. Both items are grubby, with wear and creasing to extremities, but with the design and much of the margin entirely undamaged. Both have an identical block of printed text (roughly 13.5 x 9 cm) at the centre: 'THE truth is that in human service there is no low or high degree: the woman who scrubs is as WORTHY of RESPECT as the man who Preaches | ELBERT HUBBARD'.

Sketchbook filled with pencil drawings by Wright of the English countryside, some captioned and two signed 'HBW'. Four pages finished in watercolour.

Author: 
Horace Boardman Wright (1888-1915), English artist from Beckenham, Kent [Royal College of Art; Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers]
Publication details: 
Dated by Wright: 'July 28th. 1904. [signed] H Boardman Wright | Technical Institute School of Art | Beckenham | Kent'. [Sketchbook by D. W. Richard & Co., 29 High Street, Croydon, Artist Colourmen and Picture Frame Makers.]
£325.00

Landscape sketchbook of eighteen leaves. Leaf dimensions roughly 17.5 x 13 cm. One leaf loose. A further leaf has been removed. Drawings on twenty-five pages and the rear pastedown. Bound in rough grey cloth with printed design on front board. Printed stationer's ticket (label) on front pastedown. Grubby, and with the inevitable pencil offsetting, but good and tight on good paper, lightly-aged but unaffected by damp or stain. Contains some charming images, showing the promise that would win Wright a scholarship to the Royal College of Art three years later.

Illustrated Catalogue of Acts and Laws of the Colony and State of New York [...] constituting the collection made by Hon. Russell Benedict, Justice of the Supreme Court of New York.

Author: 
Hon. Russell Benedict, Justice of the Supreme Court of New York [The American Art Association]
Publication details: 
To be sold [...] on Monday, February 27th, 1922 [...] The sale to be conducted by Mr. Thomas E. Kirby and his assistants, of The American Art Association, Managers, New York City.
£60.00

Octavo: 261 unpaginated pages. In original printed wraps. Internally sound and clean, in stained and creased wraps. Unobtrusive ownership mark of Myers & Co. of London on front wrap. Fifty full-page facsimiles of title-pages, etc. Foreword by Benedict, followed by Resume, beginning, 'The Collection of Laws belonging to Judge Russell Benedict, [...] is the Most Important Collection of its kind that has ever been brought together by a private party.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir H[enry]. Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir James Lewis Caw
Publication details: 
22 December 1916; on National Gallery [of Scotland], Edinburgh, letterhead.
£23.00

Scottish art critic and engineer (1864-1950). One page, octavo. Very good. Bearing the Society's stamp. 'It is very good of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts to ask me to become a member, but, while thanking them, I regret that I do not see my [^ way,] at present, to join any more societies.' Signed 'James L. Caw'.

Colour booklet of 'Labels. Their Origin and Present Day Uses. With the Compliments of W. J. Cummins, Colour Printer, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham. Representatives in - London, Lancashire, Midlands, and North East. India, British West Indies.'

Author: 
lW. J. Cummins, Colour Printer, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham [printing ephemera]
Publication details: 
No date [1920s?]. Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham: W. J. Cummins, Colour Printer.
£225.00

4to: 22 pp. Leaf dimensions roughly 280 x 210 mm. Ring binder in original card wraps printed in red. Very good in lightly-spotted wraps. Ring binding slightly rusted. Features ten pages of bright, striking and attractive label designs. The first page shows four 'Colours of Design Separated' for 'William's Extra Stout'. The second page shows, in four diagrams, how 'The colours are printed one after the other' on a label for American Cream Soda. Another page shows the design for 'Smith & Jones Ltd Nut Brown Ale in three colour combinations. Other products include S.

Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Book-Plates, (Ex-Libris.)

Author: 
Puttick and Simpson, London auctioneers [auction catalogues; bookplates; ex-libris]
Publication details: 
London, 1897. Sale the 28th, January, at two o'clock precisely, At the Rooms of PUTTICK & SIMPSON, 47, Leicester Square. [Printed by S. and J. Brawn, 13, Gate Street, High Holborn, W.C.]
£125.00

8vo: 21 pp. Stitched and unbound. Tastefully printed on good watermarked laid paper. Aged, and with the covers grubby. Priced and named to lot 113, and with a few of the other lots priced in pencil. A slip, dimensions 2.5 x 15.5 cm, has been cut away from the beginning of the sale (pp.3-4), resulting in the loss of the entries for three lots (12, 13 and 14). Scarce, with no copy listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

Coloured engraving: 'Copy of the Transparency exhibited at Ackermann's Repository of Arts, During the Illuminations of the 5th and 6th of November, 1813, In Honour of the Splendid Victories obtained by The Allies over the Armies of France, at Leipsic

Author: 
Thomas Rowlandson [Rudolph Ackermann, Repository of Arts, Strand, London; Napoleon Bonaparte; Regency caricature]
Publication details: 
Date, place and publisher not stated. [London: R. Ackermann, 1813.]
£250.00

On a piece of good wove paper, roughly 415 x 260 mm. Dimensions of engraving 180 x 220 mm. On aged paper and with the margins of the leaf trimmed. Laid down along the right hand margin runs a strip of blue paper, 30 x 410 mm, which it may be possible for a professional restorer to remove. This edges the border of the print (which is clear and entire) and overlaps a few letters of the text. Neatly coloured in sombre tones.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos: Day') to 'Edmund Taylor Esqe | Castle Yard Windsor | Berkshire', including original unpublished forty-line manuscript poem by Day entitled 'Lines address'd to Windsor', in which he has 'spit his spite' on the town.

Author: 
Thomas Day [Edmund Taylor; Windsor, Berkshire; Oxford Street; Georgian London; John Romney?; Matthew Cotes Wyatt?]
Publication details: 
25 March 1810; Oxford Street.
£40.00

The work of a cultured and witty man, but not by the author of 'Sandford and Merton', who died in 1789. While possible authors include the 'Mr. Thomas Day, solicitor, Woburn, Bedfordshire', whose death at the age of 47 on 18 February 1824 was reported in The Times (5 March 1824), and the Thomas Day who lived around this time at Montague Street, Russell Square, the most likely candidate, considering the references to 'Romney' and 'Wyatt' is the Thomas of 'DAY William, and Thomas Day, of No. 95, Gracechurch-street, in the city of London, oilmen', who went bankrupt in 1841.

Large advertising board, bearing a 'SPECIMEN PLATE' ('The Shadow of Death': 'Holman Hunt, Pinx. The Art Journal. Goupilgravure.'), for 'The Life and Work of W. Holman Hunt. By Archdeacon Farrar.'

Author: 
William Holman Hunt; Archdeacon Frederic William Farrar [Dean Farrar; Pre-Raphaelite; The Art Journal; Alice Meynell; J. S. Virtue & Co. Ltd.; Goupilgravure]
Publication details: 
[1893.] 'London: J. S. Virtue & Co. Ltd.' [The Art Journal.]
£85.00

Printed on one side of a piece of cream paper, roughly 33.5 x 25.5 cm. Laid down on card. Clear and complete, with a good impression of the plate (22.5 x 17.5 cm), on lightly-aged, grubby paper, with slight wear to extremities. Presumably produced for display in a shop window. The title ('THE LIFE AND WORK OF | W. HOLMAN HUNT. | BY ARCHDEACON FARRAR.') at head, and 'SPECIMEN PLATE.' at foot, in large orange letters; the rest printed in black. Beneath the plate: 'THE SHADOW OF DEATH. | BY PERMISSION OF MESSRS. T. AGNEW & SONS. | LONDON: J. S. VIRTUE & CO.

Cruikshank's Autograph Signature ('Geoe Cruikshank') on a slip of paper cut from the minutes of meetings of a 'Society'.

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English engraver, illustrator and caricaturist
Publication details: 
01/06/27
£95.00

On both sides of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 8.5 x 20 cm. Cruikshank's signature is approximately 9 cm long, with the final letter of his Christian name in superscript. Paper aged and creased, with central vertical fold, and wear to one edge (not affecting text). Recto reads '<...> in the interim - | That 2 door Mats be ordered for the use of the Society | Adjourned till Thursday 7th June - | [signed] Geoe Cruikshank | Monday June 4. | General Meeting of the Society | Mr Parsonage in the Chair.

Signed Autograph Inscription to Edward Bawden.

Author: 
Lionel Ellis (b. 1903), English wood engraver, artist and book illustrator [Edward Bawden]
Publication details: 
Siena; May 1926.
£25.00

On a piece of paper, roughly 14 x 12 cm. Creased, and with a few pin holes (not affecting text). Edges untidily cut. Possibly the ffep of a presented book. Text in purple ink, with good firm signature (roughly 4.5 cm long). Reads 'To my very dear Friend | E. Bawden | [signed] Lionel Ellis | Siena May 1926'. The '6' in the date slightly cropped.

One Autograph Letter Signed and one Autograph Note Signed (both 'George Clausen') to the London publishers Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd.

Author: 
Sir George Clausen, RA (1852-1944), English artist [John Littlejohn; Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd]
Publication details: 
Letter of 13 February 1931 and note of 18 December 1930; both on letterhead of 61 Carlton Hill, St John's Wood, NW8 [London].
£100.00

Both items concern John Littlejohn's 'British Watercolour Painting and Painters of Today' (Pitman, 1931). Note of 18 December 1930: 12mo, 1 p. Five lines. Good on lightly aged paper. Thanking the publishers for sending 'the prints of my drawings [...] they are really very well done!' Letter of 13 February 1931: 12mo,1 p. Eight lines. Good, on lightly creased paper. Thanking the publishers for four presentation copies of the book. 'It is a handsome book and the drawings are well reproduced: I am particularly pleased with those of my own drawings.' Two items,

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Terrick Williams'): two to John Littlejohns and one to Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd.

Author: 
Terrick Williams [Terrick John Williams] (1860-1936), English landscape painter [John Littlejohns]
Publication details: 
First Letter (to Littlejohns): 15 June 1929. Second Letter (to [Littlejohns]): 20 December 1930. Third Letter (to Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons): 14 February 1931. All three on letterhead of 89, Gunterstone Road, W. Kensington, W14 [London].
£80.00

All three items concern Littlejohns' 'British Watercolour Painting and Painters of Today' (London: Pitman, 1931)'. First Letter: 12mo, 3 pp. 43 lines. Text clear and entire. On two leaves attached to one another in a corner by a pin. Good, on lightly-creased paper. Interesting and informative letter concerning 'two watercolours' which Williams would 'like to be 'reproduced in [Littlejohn's] work on water colours'. Gives details of the titles of the works and the name and address of the owner, 'who has consented to send them'.

Printed circular (in the form of a facsimile of a handwritten letter) invitation to the 'Ceremony of laying the Foundation Stone [of the 'New Library and Museum' at the Guildhall]'.

Author: 
William Sedgwick Saunders [Guildhall Library; Corporation of London; the City]
Publication details: 
17 October 1870; Guildhall.
£55.00

4to: 1 p. Facsimile of a handwritten letter. With small embossed circular letterhead, in red and gilt, with crest enclosed by the words 'Bibliotheca civitatis Londoniarum'. Somewhat grubby bifolium, but with text clear and entire, reading 'The Committee appointed by the Corporation of London to carry out the works in connexion with their new Library and Museum having fixed Thursday, the 27th. Instant for the ceremony of laying the Foundation Stone of the buildings, it will afford them much pleasure to be favored with your company on the occasion, at Guildhall at 2. o'clock. p.m.

Handbill, advertising 'Messrs. Raphael Tuck & Sons' next Amateurs' "Literary" and "Painting" Prize Competition, (A Special Section being reserved for Children of varying ages), in May 1895.', judged by 'Walter Besant and Marcus Stone, R.A.'

Author: 
Raphael Tuck & Sons, Fine Art Publishers, London [Walter Besant; Marcus Stone]
Publication details: 
London: Messrs. Raphael Tuck & Sons, Fine Art Publishers, 72/73 Coleman Street, City. [1895]
£100.00

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 24 x 14.5 cm. With card backing. Good, though lightly aged. Headed by the Royal warrant, the top-half of the handbill features, in a variety of types and point sizes, the announcement of Tuck and Sons' intention to award 'Upwards of 4,000 prizes, of the value of 3,000 guineas, and a number of judges' diplomas', with Besant and Stone as judges. The lower part has two columns featuring fifteen testimonials, by newspapers ranging from 'Windsor and Eton Gazette' to the 'Sheffield Telegraph'.

[Billet Autographe Signée] Autograph Note Signed "F Barry" with a cover note by Eugene Philippe (on its verso) and a Letter Signed "[Etienne] Dujardin-Beaumetz" (1852-1913), sous secrétaire d'Etat aux Beaux-Arts, about Barry's works.

Author: 
François Barry, French artist
Publication details: 
No place for the former, but the docketing previously beneath the Note says 22 Aout 1805.
£300.00

{Note/Billet} One page, c.16 x 11cm, some marking but text clear and complete, but partly illegible as follows: "Il faudrait . . . fut . . . merci un . . . je te ferais alors un bien joli tableau / FBarry/" This note has been soake away from a larger piece of paper in poor condition. at the foot of which an unknown hand explained that "Ces quelques lignes sont les dernieres que Monsieur Barry aient ecrits. Elles datent de 22 Aout 1905.

Autograph Letter Signed to the Birmingham inventor Samuel Timings (active between 1853 and 1869).

Author: 
Henry Warren (1794-1879), English painter of Biblical and oriental themes
Publication details: 
28 March 1863; on letterhead of 24 Upper Phillimore Place, Kensingon, W.
£120.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on aged paper with a little light staining at head. A significant letter, in which Warren gives information of those of Warren's 'poor works' which have been engraved: 'they have been chiefly for book illustration and are spread through many publishers'. Begins by describing how 'Murray's Childe Harold has many vignettes, very well engraved from my drawings'. Ends by saying that 'There is also a print in the mixed style of considerable size engraved by Humphreys but not yet published. It is from my picture of a story teller reciting in a coffee house of Damascus'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Fevret e St. Mémin | Consr. du Musée de Dijon'), in French, to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852). French engraver painter and Conservateur du Musée de Dijon [Fevret de St. Mésmin; Févret de St. Mesmin; Fevret de St Mesmin; St. Mémin]
Publication details: 
Dijon le 1r. octobre 1842.'
£125.00

4to: 2 pp. 26 lines. He is totally flattered by the obliging comments of the recipient in sending the first three issues of 'l'Artiste'. Discusses the merits of this 'intéressant ouvrage'. Describes the limited 'coopération' he will be able to provide. 'J'espere ainsi que vous voudrez bien vous contenter de l'envoi que j'ai l'honneur de vous faire de la notice, dernièrement publiée, du musée que je dirige, dont la 1re et la 4e.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A W Callcott.') to an unnamed male correpsondent.

Author: 
Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (1770-1844), English painter
Publication details: 
11 January 1833; <?> Kensington Gravel Pits.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and ruckled paper. Laid down on a piece of grey paper removed from an autograph album. Accepting an invitation, and informing the recipient that 'Mrs Callcott has recovered from her last attack - but she is still slightly affected at times, and is very weak.'

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