[J.L. Roget, artist, illustrator; Roget's 'Thesaurus'] A Collection of Printed and Manuscript items (incl. sketches & drawings) from the Roget Family Archive.

John Lewis Roget (1828-1908) was the son of Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), the celebrated compiler of 'Roget's Thesaurus' (which work he edited after his father's death). He was called to the bar in 1853, and the inheritance he received on his father's death enabled him to retire in 1871. A blue plaque erected to his memory in the town of Deal, where he spent the latter part of his life, describes him as 'Thesaurus compiler, Artist & Art Historian'. Author of: A history of the 'Old Water-Colour' Society : now the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours : with biographical notices of its older and of all deceased members and associates : preceded by an account of English water-colour art and artists, 2 vols (1891); involved with Notes and Memoranda Respecting the Liber Studiorum of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. : Written and Collected By the Late John Pye Landscape Engraver. Edited, with Additional Observations, and an Illustrative Etching, By John Lewis Roget (1879); Burlington Fine Arts Club: Exhibition of drawings in water colours by artists born in or subsequent to 1800, and now deceased, or who, born previous to that date, have died since the exhibition of the Club in 1871, illustrative of the progress and development of that branch of the fine arts in Great Britain ([London] Printed for the Burlington fine arts club, 1880); A volunteer's scrap-book / by the author of A Cambridge scrap-book; A Cambridge Scrapbook (1859), ETC PRINTED ITEMS IN THIS COLLECTION:1. [John Lewis Roget] A Cambridge Scrapbook. Containing, in a Pictorial Form, A Report on the Manners, Customs, Humours and Pastimes of the University of Cambridge. 'From Information received' By a Special Commissioner appointed (According to Ancient Precedents in the University) by himself. With an Appendix of Papers on Applied Mathematics. Cambridge, Macmillan and Co: and 23 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London, 1859. Oblong 8vo, 11 x 7.5 ins., 36pp. Separate hf-title for 'The Language of Mathematics. Illustrated throughout by small sketches'. In maroon cloth over pictorial stiff card boards. Front board stained and worn, marginal foxing and some stains on verso of plates. Ow good condition.The substance of 'Familiar Illustrations of the Language of Mathematics' (published in 1850), and 'Cambridge Customs and Costumes' (published in 1851) make up the contents of this volume2. John Lewis Roget (1828-1908), barrister and amateur artist, son of Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), celebrated compiler of 'Roget's Thesaurus' [Macmillan & Co., Cambridge and London] [John Lewis Roget, son of the author of 'Roget's Thesaurus'.] Loose leaves (proofs?) of the thirty pages of his illustrated lithographic skit 'A Volunteer's Scrap Book / By the Author of A Cambridge Scrap Book.' With variants of advertisement leaf. 'Cambridge / Macmillan and Co: / And 23 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden / London / 1860 / Price seven shillings & sixpence'. The present item, published anonymously, is uncommon. Neither Copac (8 listings) nor WorldCat (12 listings) records the British Library as possessing a copy. Roget had received his BA (1850) and MA (1853) from Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1859, the year before its publication, he had published, again anonymously and apparently along the same lines, 'A Cambridge scrap-book : containing, in a pictorial form, a report on the manners, customs, humours and pastimes of the University of Cambridge from information received by a special commissioner appointed (according to ancient precedents in the University) by himself. With an appendix of papers on applied mathematics'. Offered here is a total of thirty-three leaves, each lithographically printed in black on one side only. There is no letterpress whatsoever: in addition to the scores of intricate illustrations, the captions are all Roget's work. Thirty of the thirty-three leaves comprise the complete 'A Volunteer's Scrap-Book' (three landscape leaves of prelims and 27 numbered portrait leaves of the work itself), on thickish unwatermarked wove paper, each with slight variations in dimensions, but all roughly 28 x 19 cm. There is no evidence of the leaves having been disbound, so one can presume that this is a proof set. Accompanying this set is a duplicate of page 15, with the words 'Transferred from a print' in a neat Victorian hand at bottom left. Also, of the same dimensions, a landscape leaf carrying on one side two boxed Macmillan & Co advertisements, side by side: the one on the left for 'A Cambridge Scrap-Book', and the one on the right for 'A Volunteer's Scrap-Book'. Each is illustrated, and neither contains any letterpress, the entire advertisement being drawn up by Roget. Both books are advertised at the head as 'Lately Published, Price 7s/6d.' The final leaf is a duplicate of the advertisement, on thinner pinkish-red paper of slightly smaller dimensions. A crease has been made vertically at the centre between the two advertisements, suggesting that they were distributed separately. The leaves are all in good condition, lightly aged, apart from the elaborately illustrated cover or titlepage of the work, which is somewhat creased with a closed tear at the edge. The other prelims are a more austere title leaf, with vignette of bayonette and tape, and a leaf advertising Roget's previous work. Each of the 27 pages of the work is filled with illustrations poking fun at lower-middle-class pretentions, somewhat in the style of Richard Doyle. Pages are titled: Stray Shots; The Rifle Fever; Manual Platoon and Bayonet; Points at Long Ranges; Illustrated Drill; Parlour Drill; Humours of Drill; Parlour Drill; Facts and Fancies; Conceits and Contrasts; Scraps; Art-Manufactures; Odds and Ends; Corps Dramatique; The Devil's Own [two leaves relating to a 'Court of Chancery Company']. The final two leaves tell the story, in seventeen boxes, of 'How Private Muddle performed his Manual Exercise after the Review.' 3. Time and the hour. A Patchwork Poem in Shakespeare's Words. Arranged by J.L.R. (John Lewis Roget). No date. Leaflet, 4pp. 8vo. Annotated presumably by Roget with relevant Shakespeare references. Edges grubby, mainly good. No other copy traced.4. J.L.R (Roget) April 1886. A Lay of the Leland Club. Broadside, fol., blue paper, fold marks, ow good. No other copy traced5. Announcement of the deaths of J.L. Roget and his wife, first page of St. Mary's, Paddington, Parish Magazine (detached), Dec. 1908, referring to their charitable work, and the Thesaurus.6. Cabinet Photograph of seated J.L. Roget (Maull & Fox), inscribed on the reverse John L.Roget | Oct. 1892, very good condition.DRAWINGS/MSS.7. [Original Pencil Sketches] John Lewis Roget, Sketches BY John Lewis Roget. | 1840, sketchbook, red mor., obl. 12mo, sl. battered, some pages a little stained without obscuring sketches, title + 34pp. used (some sketches two-page). Inscription inside front cover, John Lewis Roget (aged 13 ? years). Subjects include: View of Highgate and part of London from my bedroom window 33 Regent Square; Lake District (several); others.8. [Original Sketches] John Lewis Roget, A Familiar Interpretation of the Language of Mathematics by JLR. With 41 numbered original pages/sketches, final unnumbered page 'finis'- sketch of a candle being snuffed. Precursor of Familiar Illustrations published by Ackerman 1850 which apparently has 100 sketches on 9 lithographed pages.9. [Original Pen and Ink Sketches] [on cover] Switzerland 1844, inscription inside front cover John L. Roget | 1844, hf. lea., mbld bds, sl. damage to spine, requires recasing, pages becoming detached, 22 sketches, usually two to a leaf, two coloured in,mainly Swiss interest, usually multiple images (usually comic) to the page, heads or full length people in the main, individual image includes women doing laundry, boats. It concludes with a fishing vessel at Dover and three sketches, glued in, one of [Professor?] Roget. 10. [Verse, MS.] [on cover] THE COBBLER. | A Ballad | with Illustrations by John L. Roget | 1845. Not bound. Alternate pages with 7 pen and ink drawing (cartoon) with verse, very good condition.11. [Original Sketches; John Lewis Roget] The Book of Ugliness edited by the Countess of Billingsgate. 1847, blue paper wraps with gilt., 9 pen and ink drawings + FINIS, 10 pp., 12mo, good condition. Caricatures of heads of females, the ugliest being Grace.12. [Original Pen and Ink Sketches] Odds and Ends 1848, obl. 4to, grey ? bds, good condition, 16 Pages of sketches, several to page, sociological studies reminiscent of Phiz. 13. [Pencil Sketches] Cambridge Yorkshire 1849-1853 | J.L.R. [John Lewis Roget] | Pencil Sketches. Obl. 4to, hf-lea. dec. bds, good condition. Glue showing through on corners of drawings. Twenty-one sketches, 18 x 12cm, tipped in, one smaller watercolour and two loose larger sketches, 25 x 16cm of Denbigh. The Cambridge Sketches are mainly Cambridgeshire but include End of Library Trin. Coll. Cambridge, Chapel Jesus College Cambridge, and Part of St. John's College Cambridge.14. SEE IMAGES. [Pen & Ink AND Pencil; IRELAND] Ireland 1850 (title on spine), large folder, 41 x 28cm, hf-lea., marbled bds, comprising:a. [Pen & Ink Drawings] Recollections of Ireland (title) in folder, 6pp. fol., light brown cartridge paper, inc. titlepage which has one sketch, 17.5 x 8.5cm. The other five pages all have multiple small sketches, many caricature, ranging from 17.5cm x 8.5 to 2 x 3cm, 8 on [p.2], 13 on [p.3], 8 on [p.4], 10 on [p.5]. Roget has written the subject in small letters underneath a few of the drawings (for example, Constabulary, Kenmare, 'Glengariff to Killarney - Bianconi's Car', 'Car Driver' (resembling Bill Sikes)). The drawings were formerly laid down with glue, but have been re-set with photo corners. b. [Pencil Drawings, some with white] Irish views (only three with human being), 32 folio pages, total 50 drawings of sizes ranging from 6 x 5cm to 17 x 26cm, formerly laid down with glue, but re-set with photo corners. Very good condition. Most drawings have the subject and the initials J.L.R. [J.L. Roget] and a date of execution (exclusively 1850) at the bottom of the drawing or just beneath. Subjects include: i. On the Gap at Dunloe. Co. Kerry (several others with same subject); ii. O'Sullivan's Cascade. Lower Lake, Killarney; iii. Eagle's Nest; iv. Monastery - Innisfallen - Lower Lake Killarney; v. Lower Lake - Killarney - from Castle Lough Hotel; vi.Eagle's Mountain, from rock above Hotel - Glengarrif - Co. Cork; vii. Glengarrif Bay from above Hotel - Co. Cork; viii. Haulbowline Island (boat, buildings); ix. Part of Cove [?] Queenstown (harbour, ship, building); x. Waterfall in the Devil's Glen- Co. Wicklow; xi. Enniskerry - Co. Wicklow (evocative view of village, with man in top hat, horses with cart); xii. Round Tower, Cloudalkin Co. Dublin; etc., etc.c. [Printed] One page, fol., entitled 'THE EMERALD ISLE', lithographic print, Unpublished apparently and relating to the potato famine.SEE IMAGES15. [Verse, MS.] [on cover] LOCAL LYRICS from Cornwall &c | 1863, 'obl.12mo', hf.lea., recasing just about needed. Titlepage: Local Lyrics from Cornwall &c | including some very Scilly [sic] rhymes | (with Editorial Notes, &c | Pictorial Illustrations || 1863. || The right of translation is reserved. Forty (40) Limericks on 36 pages, most with comic pencil sketch. E.g. An aspiring young man from St Ives | Not content with a couple of wives [?], The limerick form was popularized by Edward Lear in his first A Book of Nonsense (1846)16. [Original Pencil Sketches] Title on cover 1870 | Brighton | S[outh] K[ensington] Museum Worthing | Tintagel, 'obl. 12mo', hf. lea., mor. good condition. 36 pencil drawings on alternate pages.17. [Notebook; Art in Europe] 1872 Holland | Belgium | [Meuse?] | Paris, from one end of the notebook he travels from place to place i.e. part travel journal (Belgium, Holland, France) but including a tour of Art Galleries, often discussing individual paintings [that are presumably on display] in detail ranging from brief to lengthy comment, layout and buildings, along with more conventional diary entries giving information (architectural, etc) about the places visited or passed through, starting in Antwerp, [paginated] 87pp., AND from the other end, itinerary with exhaustive details of expenses while travelling, [not paginated], 15pp. inc. inside front cover, marbled bds, partly detached, contents in good condition, writing often scrawl.A. E.g. Brussels, lists (with information) of pictures in the Musee Moderne, 9pp., followed by information about M. [Gustave]Couteaux's collection of modern pictures, Musee Wiertz, Zoological Gardens. Long alphabetical list of paintings in the Musee Luxembourg, Paris, including a particularly substantial comment on Delacroix, pp.72/3: After first astonishment at his showy force, I though[t] him over-rated; seeing him defective in drawing, and in his colour, particularly his flesh, untrue to nature, and apparently more anxious for fine contrasts than for truth. It is only occasionally, too, as in the old woman looking up in the foreground of (66) [added in pencil 'that he gives much facial expression]. But his force & richness are so great that I cannot help acknowledging him a painter of high powers. His [colr?]. & chiaroscuro combined have some smack of Spagneletto. But his masterly small sketches in pencil (266) & his (262) water colour lion's head show what his mode of expression was. His paintings are [living?] opposite Ingre's [sic], & it is interesting to compare them. One can see how distasteful each must have been to the other.B. Eg. Reims, commenting architecturally on the Cathedral, the street layout (arcades), but adding German troops here in plenty - fine looking fellows, reflecting the consequences of the Franco-Prussian War. Later comment on Soissons, No German troops here.Art Collections listed some with extensive comments include: (Brussels) Musee Moderne (9 pages); M. Couteaux's collection of modern pictures; Notre Dame de la Chapelle; Palais de Justice; Musee Royale; Musee Wiertz; Musee Moderne; (The Hague) Exhibition of Modern Pictures; The Musee inc. Rubens, Holbein; Mr. Hoffmann's collection; (Haarlem) Pavilion, 4pp.; Town Hall Musee; (Amsterdam) Musee; Exhibition of Old Masters at the Soc 'Arti et Amicitiae', 3pp.; Musee van der Hoop (mainly a listing), 3pp.; (Paris) Musee de Luxembourg, 11pp, basic alphabetical list minimal but sometimes pointed comment; the Louvre (most famous exhibits, lots of commentary, 7.5pp). THE END.Itinerary includes minor places (not listed) but basically Antwerp, Brussels, The Hague, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Aix-la-Chapelle, Liege, Namur, Dinant, Givet, Mezieres, Reims, Soissons, Paris.18. [Original Pencil Sketches] Title 1881 Cornwall, ? lea. gt, obl. 16mo, 24 sketches, some loose.19. [Verse, MS.] Manuscript Verse Letter dated 17 Nov. 1883, Signed at end J.L.R., two pages, bifolium, hole where an address might have been, good condition. Commencing Dear Bibby, no doubt from your teachers you've heard | That the Goddess of Wisdom was known by her bird [?].20. [Pencil sketches, watercolours] Title on cover 1883 Yorkshire [rest smudged and obscured] but Barnard Castle is the main topic (Co. Durham). Hf. Lea. mor. bds, recasing would be useful, 10 sketches/pages, two poor watercolours, one loose drawing.21. [Play MS. Juvenile] 'The Three Witches Adapted from Shakespeare by J.L. Roget', MS., 5pp., cr. 8vo. Not bound.See IMAGES (currently only representing item 14 (Ireland) but I'm open to requests for others. NOTE: Items 14. ("Recollections of Ireland) AND 17. ("Notebook: Art in Europe") are being offered separately.