RUSKIN

[John Ruskin, prominent art critic, etc.] Autograph Note Signed J Ruskin to My dear Con (presumably one of his circle called Constance) wishing her (conversationally) a happy Christmas and anicipoating a visit.

Author: 
John Ruskin (1819-1900), prominent Victorian art critic, author, artist and thinker
Ruskin
Publication details: 
Xmas day 63
£650.00
Ruskin

One page, 12mo, good condition, laid down on part of an album page (see note below). Text: My dear Con, | Many and many a Happy Christmas to you- & to all who love you - that's a wide wish I know. | Now - when & how do you & mama want me to come to yoy. I will be at your [underlined] orders, (provided they are peremptory-) any day after New Years day. | Thank mama for her kind note. | Ever affectionately Your | J Ruskin. Note: Item detached from Meredith family album containing letters from distinguished contemporaries such as Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Clemenceau, etc etc.

[John Ruskin.] Carte de visite by Elliott & Fry, London, with facsimile signature.

Author: 
John Ruskin, pre-eminent Victorian art critic; Elliott & Fry, nineteenth-century London photographers noted for their cartes de visite
Ruskin
Publication details: 
1867 or 1869. Elliott & Fry, 55, Baker Street, Portman Square, London, W.
£150.00
Ruskin

Rather long for a carte de visite: 6 x 9 cm albumen print laid down on 6.5 x 10.5 cm card. In fair condition, lightly discoloured and worn. On the card beneath the photograph is a facsimile of Ruskin’s signature (‘John Ruskin’) and ‘ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55. BAKER ST.’ Printed on the reverse is the royal crest and the firm’s address. A copy of the present item was offered by Sotheby’s in 2021, dated to 1867, with the claim that it was ‘signed on the mount’. That claim is erroneous: the signature to that copy is identical with the present lithographed one.

[ Pictures; Sumners of Kelbarrow, Grasmere ] Typescript List of Pictures in Kelbarrow, Grasmere, former home of the Family of the Rev. J.H.R. Sumner, with prices in pencil.

Author: 
[ Rev. John Henry Robertson Sumner, son of J.B. Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury, & Family; John Ruskin; Pictures ]
Publication details: 
Undated. Presumably sold (auctioned?) at the death of the surviving member of the family. Margaret L. Sumner, Ruskin's correspondent, who died in 1919.
£220.00

Nine pages, folio, fold marks, browning, sl. chipped, text complete and clear. It comprises a list of paintings, drawings, lithographs , prints in many areas and rooms of the house, from the Top of Staircase to Library to Best Bedroom to Dining Room, etc. Several items are associated with the Sumner Family: a lithograph of Archbishop Sumner on the Principal Staircase; a Pastel coloured drawing - Family Group of Mrs. John Bird Sumner (four daughters and son) by Hastings, 1827; Water colour drawing - The four Miss Sumners, by Geo. Richmond, R.A.

[Frederic Yates, English artist active in America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fredc Yates') to Mrs Oldham, describing in moving terms the funeral of Anne Oldham.

Author: 
Frederic Yates [born Frederic Keeping] (1854-1919), English artist active in America before returning to England and settling in the Lake District [Anne Oldham]
Publication details: 
17 May 1895, on letterhead of 3a Portman Mansions, W. [London]
£180.00

Yates studied in Paris before setting up a successful practice in San Francisco, also teaching there at the Art Student League. His portraits include the educator John Haden Badley and the only president of Hawaii, Sanford Ballard Dole. He returned to England in 1900, but was invited back to America to attend the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson and to paint his portrait. Wilson presented Yates with the flag that his hand rested on whilst he took his oath of office. The Oldham family moved in artistic circles, and Constance Oldham was John Ruskin's god-daughter and corresponded with him.

[Frederic Yates, English artist active in America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fred Yates') to Mrs Oldham, describing his examination of the wreck of HMS Foudroyant, for a painting she has commissioned. With sketches of the ship in ink and pencil.

Author: 
Frederic Yates [born Frederic Keeping] (1854-1919), English artist who found fame in America before settling in the Lake District [Oldham family; HMS Foudroyant; Royal Navy; Plymouth; Devonport]
Publication details: 
Letter: 'Sunday noon' [no date]. On letterhead of the Royal Hotel, Devonport. Pencil sketches without date or place.
£450.00

Yates studied in Paris before setting up a successful practice in San Francisco, also teaching there at the Art Student League. His portraits include the educator John Haden Badley and the only president of Hawaii, Sanford Ballard Dole. He returned to England in 1900, but was invited back to America to attend the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson and to paint his portrait. Wilson presented Yates with the flag that his hand rested on whilst he took his oath of office. The Oldham family moved in artistic circles, and Constance Oldham was John Ruskin's god-daughter and corresponded with him.

[ Blanche Atkinson; Ruskin; RSPB ] Leaflet entitled "A Woman's Question", about the "slaughter of birds for ornament"

Author: 
Blanche Atkinson [ Blanche Isabella Atkinson (1847-1911) novelist and author of children’s books, correspondent/friend of John Ruskin ]
Publication details: 
Ty'n-y-Ffynon, Barmouth. March 1896
£150.00

Two pages, 8vo, fold marks, some wear on a fold mark, grubby, bottom edge chipped, all text legible. Bottom of verso, copies obtainable from the author of from "The Hon. Sec. of the Society for the Protection of Birds, Mrs. F.E. Lemon [...]" No copy on COPAC etc.

[ Arthur Wellesley Batson, composer, artist and cleric. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('A Wellesley Batson') to 'Johnnie', whom he has seen in Marlow Church, causing him to reminisce about their time at Whitbourne.

Author: 
Arthur Wellesley Batson (1852-1917), composer, artist and cleric, Rector of Ringstead, Norfolk
Publication details: 
Ringstead Rectory, Lynn. 16 July 1890.
£40.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter begins: 'My dear Johnnie - | I saw you in Marlow Church the Sunday before last & recognised you although when I saw you last you had long curls falling on your shoulders 10 years ago!' He hopes to meet with him if he is still at Marlow when he goes there again. 'Edward stayed here for a week a short time ago.' The letter concludes: 'I often think of my Whitbourne days & Barkie & the good times we had.' From the papers of the Harington baronets of Whitbourne Court. Batson was a student of theology at Oxford in 1881.

[ George Allen, London publisher and associate of John Ruskin. ] Sale catalogue of 'Books and Pictures from the Estate of the Late Mr. George Allen', containing a large number of books and pictures by Ruskin.

Author: 
[ George Allen (1832-1907), London publisher, craftsman and engraver associated with John Ruskin [ Allen and Unwin ]
Publication details: 
'For Sale | May be seen at 156, Charing Cross Road | London | December 1908'.
£400.00

12 pp., 8vo. Modern marbled bds. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. This interesting item is of significance to Ruskin scholars, containing a whole page describing 24 drawings and engravings by him, as well as a number of interesting books from the library of a close associate. The item was previously bound by Rossetti in a volume with two, unrelated, others. It then passed into the collection of the art historian Rose Sketchley, whose sister C. J. Sketchley presented it to Fulham Public Libraries in 1949. It is scarce: no copy has been traced on either OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.

[ Roy Henderson, Scottish baritone and singing instructor of Kathleen Ferrier. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Roy Henderson') to 'Mrs Ruskin', regarding 'the right kind of training required', 'Bel Canto singing' and the teaching of 'Mr. Arnold'.

Author: 
Roy Henderson [ Roy Galbraith Henderson ] (1899-2000), leading Scottish baritone of the early twentieth-century, later a singing instructor who counted Kathleen Ferrier among his pupils
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'Roy Henderson, | Baritone', 305 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent. 11 November 1925.
£150.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight traces of mount adhering at head of reverse of leaf. 40 lines of text. The letter concerns a singing instructor named 'Mr. Arnold' who has offered to teach Mrs Ruskin or a member of her family 'at half fees'. Having been asked his advice Henderson begins: 'It is extremely difficult to give an opinion about the right kind of training required. The Bel Canto singing from the point of voice production is undoubtedly the very best. It means smooth even singing.

[ Peter Wardle, British portrait painter. ] Around 90 items from his papers, including incoming material relating to his work for the National Portraiture Association; correspondence with Ruskin School of Drawing, Oxford; receipts; payslips; tax.

Author: 
Peter Wardle (b.1929), British portrait painter [ William Deeves (1893-1977), Director, The National Portraiture Association; ]
Publication details: 
Mainly from London. Dating from between 1972 and 1974.
£320.00

Peter Wardle studied at Leicester School of Art and the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford. He began his career as a professional portrait painter and sculptor in the 1970s, and has work in a number of institutions including the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Ten of his works in the National Portrait Gallery collection include portraits of Athol Fugard, H. J. Eysenck and Edmund Blunden. He was also responsible for the portrait of Sir Geoffrey Keynes used as the frontispiece to his 1973 festschift. The present collection, containing around ninety items, is in aged and worn condition.

[ Richard St John Tyrwhitt, art critic. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('R St John Tyrwhitt') to 'Miss Bosworth', presenting a copy of his 'A Handbook of Pictorial Art' to her. With inscribed copy of the book.

Author: 
Rev. R. St. John Tyrwhitt, M.A. [ Richard St John Tyrwhitt (1827-1895), English art critic, cleric and supporter of John Ruskin ]
Publication details: 
Lettter dated 29 March 1869, no place. Book published at the Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1868.
£150.00

Letter: 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Attached by the blank second leaf of the bifolium to the reverse of the front free endpaper of the book. Envelope addressed by Tyrwhitt to 'Miss Bosworth | Parks Town' tipped-in beside the letter. He is not sure whether she has a copy of 'my art-book', which she mentioned 'the other day'. 'If not, will you kindly accept of this one, tho I fear it is not a very good one in the illustrations?' Book: [xv] + 480pp., 8vo. Sixteen-page November 1868 publisher's catalogue at rear.

[ Richard St John Tyrwhitt, art critic. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('R St John Tyrwhitt') to 'Mrs Paul', regarding his book 'Our Sketching Club. Letters and Studies on Landscape Art.' With a copy of the book.

Author: 
Rev. R. St. John Tyrwhitt, M.A. [ Richard St John Tyrwhitt (1827-1895), English art critic, cleric and supporter of John Ruskin ]
Publication details: 
Letter from Ketilley, Oxford, on cancelled letterhead of Christ Church. 25 September 1875. Book published by Macmillan and Co., London, 1874.
£150.00

Letter: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Laid down on the book's flyleaf. In very good condition, lightly-aged. He hears about his book 'every now & then & I suppose it goes off all right'. He advises Mrs Paul to tell her correspondent that 'she has only to go on with its lessons & exercises', and that 'The woodcuts are all meant to be copied, & a fair amount of directions is given.

[ Herbert Ainslie ('Harry') Roberts, Cambridge mathematician. ] Typed Letter Signed ('H. A. Roberts') to bookseller J. G. Wilson, reminiscing on his purchase forty years before of Ruskin item at the opening of London bookshop Messrs J. and E. Bumpus.

Author: 
H. A. Roberts [ Herbert Ainslie Roberts ] (1864-1932), Secretary to the University of Cambridge Appointments Board [ John Gideon Wilson (1876-1963) of London bookshop Messrs J. & E. Bumpus ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the University of Cambridge Appointments Board, 11 March 1931.
£35.00

1p., 4to. In fair condtion, lightly aged and creased. With a few autograph corrections by Roberts. Having been unsuccessful in placing an individual with Wilson, Roberts writes: 'Of course forty years ago the advent of a bookshop like yours was a tremendous event, and we all flocked to it as something new and wonderful, as indeed it was.

[ Printed pamphlet; Walter Crane ] On the Study and Practice of Art: An Address delivered by Walter Crane, to the Art Students of the Municipal School of Art, and the Municipal Technical School, Manchester, Saturday, March 4th, 1893.

Author: 
Walter Crane [ Municipal School of Art, Manchester ]
Publication details: 
Manchester: "Manchester Guardian" Printing Works, Blackfriars Street, 1893.
£180.00

19pp., 12mo. Stapled. In grey printed wraps. Internally in good condition, on lightly-aged paper; in wraps with stamp and label of the Education Department Library. Marginal headings include: 'Motives for following an Artistic Career', 'Primal Important of Facility of Hand', 'Triumph of Commercialism', 'The Worship of the Ugly', 'Art: Pictorial, Creative, Pot-boiling' and 'Decorum in Decoration'. Uncommon: only four copies recorded on OCLC WorldCat.

[Printed bookseller's catalogue.] Frederick Warne & Co's List of New & Recent Publications. Season 1900-1901.

Author: 
[Frederick Warne & Co, 15 Bedford St., Strand, London; catalogue of children's books, 1900-1901]
Publication details: 
London: 15 Bedford St. Strand. [1900.]
£90.00

16pp., in illustrated wraps with the outer covers printed in green and brown, and three more pages of advertisements on insides and back cover. Bifoliate order form (4pp., 12mo) loosely inserted. The old stalwarts John Ruskin, Kate Greenaway, Walter Crane, Edward Lear, jumbled together with newer titles such as 'Gobbo-Bobo, The Two-Eyed Griffin', 'Prince Cheery-Heart' and 'The Bunkum Book. A Tale of Topsy Turvy Land'. Sadly no mention of Beatrix Potter ("Peter Rabbit" published 1902.). Scarce: no copy on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.

Autograph Letter Signed from the English playwright and comic author Tom Taylor to 'Col: Cunningham' [later Sir Alexander Cunningham], regarding a painting of the Countess of Pembroke, and Cunningham's collection of pictures.

Author: 
Tom Taylor (1817-1880), English playwright and art critic at The Times, whose play 'Our American Cousin' was being performed when Lincoln was assassinated [Sir Alexander Cunningham (1814-1893)]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Local Government Act Office, 8 Richmond Terrace, Whitehall. 24 November [no year].
£95.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Untidily-written by Taylor, with several ink smudges. The letter begins: 'Dear Col: Cunningham | I find recorded, in my catalogues, no other portrait of Eliz: Countess of Pembroke & her son, except the one in the Earl of Pembroke's possession at Wilton House. There is a repetition of the group of mother & son in that picture, with the Earl in it, in Wilton House. Lord Normanton has a head of the Lady, painted at the same time, apparently'.

[Booklet] Letters addressed by Professor Ruskin, D.C.L., to the Clergy on the LOrd's Prayer and the Church

Author: 
Rev. F.A. Malleson, editor
Publication details: 
"Printed for private circulation only". No publisher or printer recorded, [1879? viz. Preface]
£500.00

Booklet39pp., 12mo, original printed wraps, front one detached, wraps foxed and chipped at spine, pther minor defects, mainly fair-good, owner's signature on front wrap verso, and some pencil notes within. One copy listed by COPAC, at BL (entry says 150 copies). WorldCat lists Harvard and Yale (and BL) copies only. Scarce. Note: The Editor, Malleson, was first to translate Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth".

Autograph Letter Signed ('John B. Inglis') from the book collector John Bellingham Inglis to Isaac Preston Cory of Caius College, Cambridge, about the superiority of his 'method of trisecting an angle' over that of 'Mr. Rowbotham' [John Rowbotham].

Author: 
John B. Inglis [John Bellingham Inglis] (1780-1870), book collector [Isaac Preston Cory (1801/2-1842), Hebrew Lecturer, Caius College, Cambridge, and writer on accountancy; John Rowbotham (1793-1846)]
Publication details: 
21 Upper Montagu St; 24 February 1836.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. 42 lines. Bifolium. Fair, on aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'I. P. Cory Esq'. The letter begins: 'A friend of mine Mr. Jackson having told Mr. Rowbotham [Ruskin's tutor John Rowbotham] that I had discovered a method of trisecting an angle that gentleman said he had done it himself, which I believe he has, upon the proposition you showed me - he says it was originally published by Professor Leslie'. Inglis considers that 'Mr. R. seems to have hit upon something he does not quite comprehend'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed from the Oxford Professor of Fine Arts, Selwyn Image, to 'My dear Barnard' [Rev. P. M. Barnard?], regarding funghi and moths.

Author: 
Selwyn Image (1849-1930), Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University [Rev. Percy Mordaunt Barnard (1868-1941) of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, antiquarian bookseller]
Publication details: 
Both from 20 Fitzroy Street, W.; 12 and 17 August 1908.
£175.00

Both items good, on aged paper. Written in Image's distinctive calligraphic hand. Letter One (12 August 1908): 1 p, 12mo. The 'Galatheas' arrived the previous evening 'quite safe'. 'Fancy your being at The Warren as well as at Deal! The Warren [Folkestone] is famous for being stocked with good things. You are indeed in the very heart of the richest entomological country in England.' Letter Two (17 August 1908): 2 pp, 12mo. He is delighted with 'these beautiful ochroleuca, which arrived this afternoon quite safely'.

Five printed items relating to the Co-operative Holidays Association, including the first three issues in a series of 'Co-Operative Holidays Association General Notes'.

Author: 
Co-operative Holidays Association, Manchester [the co-operative movement]
Publication details: 
General Notes': October and December 1918, and February 1919. ['Published at the Offices of The Co-operative Holidays Association, College House, Brusnwick Street, Manchester. Printed by The Edgeley Press Ltd., Stockport.' Other items 1918 and 1920.
£220.00

Items One to Three: three 'Co-operative Holidays Association General Notes' pamphlets, all 4pp, on unbound 8vo bifoliums. Text clear and complete, on aged and worn paper, with a 3 cm closed tear to both leaves of the second number. Each issue ends with a long list of 'Rambling Clubs and Secretaries'. Headings of notes include 'One Shilling Literature Subscription', 'Sir William Mather', 'Canadian Guests', 'Personalia'. Also a report of the annual general meeting.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (two 'Eric Broad. | Frederic E Wright.' and one 'Frederic E Wright | Eric Broad.') to W. Kineton Parkes (1865-1938), assistant editor of the journal of the Ruskin Reading Guild, 'Igdrasil'

Author: 
Eric Broad' (Frederic E. Wright), English poet [W. Kineton Parkes; John Ruskin; William Marwick; the Ruskin Reading Guild]
Publication details: 
20 and 22 January and 3 March 1890; all from Scarsdale, Great Malvern.
£100.00

All three items in very good condition. Interesting series of letters by an obscure 1890s poet. Letter One (12mo, 7 pp): Although he realises that some are 'rather poor', he is sending, through his brother (possibly the artist Alan Wright, 1864-1959), 'all the lyrics I have by me': 'I have not had time to "weed" yet, being veryy busily engaged writing lyrics for a Comedy-Opera ['Ethelinda, or a Philanthropic Fad' (1890), on which he collaborated with Hamilton O. Wylde] - & a libretto for Operetta; also been trying my hand at very sensational prose'.

Autograph Card Signed ('Lamb') to Ian Treg. Jenkyn, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

Author: 
Lynton Harold Lamb (1907-1977), British painter, book illustrator and designer
Publication details: 
[Venice; 1970].
£85.00

Postcard with painting of Rialto Bridge by Canaletto. Postmarked 1970. Ruckled with damp but entirely legible. An amusing communication, beginning 'Thought I would let you know that we were not involved in the great tornado that sunk a voporetto [sic] on Lirica 4, and that the Hotel alla Fava is still very comfortable.' Refers to the Lambs' 'self-contained eyrie' and 'the weak fast coffee which tastes of mud; but clearly and obviously isn't'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Frederic William Farrar, Dean of Westminster
Publication details: 
25 January [1886]; on letterhead '17, DEAN'S YARD, | WESTMINSTER, S.W.'
£30.00

Dean of Canterbury (1831-1903). 'Dear Sir, | I am sorry that my course as Bampton Lecturer at Oxford prevents me from accepting your kind invitation. | Otherwise I wd. gladly give you a Lecture. I should be pleased to visit Sheffield & see Mr Ruskin's Museum. | I am, Dear Sir | Very faithfully yours | F W Farrar'. Farrar was Bampton Lecturer in 1886.

Autograph letter signed to an [W.H. Harrison, poet, editor of "Friendship's Offering", literary advisor to Ruskin]

Author: 
Thomas Miller.:
Publication details: 
31 Elliott's Row, St George's Road, Southwark, 22 May 1837
£250.00

Poet and novelist, basketmaker and bookseller (1807-1874). One page, 4to, one nick not affecting text, fold marks and signs of having been laid down, mainly good. He has made "few alterations in the Poem, which if you think an improvement, may be adopted. I am afraid that so much practise in writing prose is creeping into and tinging my poetry. I do not truly like this 'Desolate Hall' and yet I can do nothing better at present". He has had no review in the "Literary Gazette" as yet, and comments on the "mass of new books that every corner of the columns have been crowded . . . Mr.

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