Art and Architecture

Albumen printh, 8.5 x 5.5 cm, laid down on card, 10.5 x 6 cm. In fair condition: lightly faded on slightly-aged card. Card printed in red on both sides, with Nadar's address and facsimile signature on reverse, and his initial within the border containing the photograph on the other side. Head and shoulders shot of the singer, staring at the viewer in a dark dress attached at the neck.

Two pages, 12mo, one stain, fold marks, sl. grubby, text clear, as follows: The Prince of Wales has at the same time desired Sir W. Knollys to tell My Dighton that H.R.H. thinks the likeness of the King of the Belgians would be much improved if he could make the nose a little longer and the beard a little darker -- The portrait shall therefore remain in Sir W. Knollys's room should nr Dighton wish to take it away with the view of making the improvements which the Prince has suggested. A list of names in pencil (Dighton's hand) has been added, including Thomas Baring and Combermere.

Colophon: "Here endeth the story of Hand & Soul by Dante Gabrile Rossetti which has been set in eighteen-point Garamond type. Designed and printed by Leonard Jay; assisted by Vernon S. Ganderton, presswork; Henry S. Sands, decorative title page; A. Michael Fletcher and Frances Woof, lettering. Sixty-five copies only have been printed on an Hayle Milltoned paper in black, red, and green, for private circulation only." It's followed by Jay's Phoenix device.

One page, 8vo, some marking but text clear and complete. "Iam glad that your messenger caught me here, & that the picture could at once be returned. There is nothing to bid fo. It is a wothless painting, clumsily touched upon to make high lights &c. & is in miserable condition might be any child of the period".

Letter One: 12mo, 2 pp. Good on lightly-aged paper. The 'delightful drawing' she left for him is a 'wonderful surprise'. He has been 'trying some life drawing direct with the brush' and is surprised that she was able 'to put it down like that!' Letter Two: 4to, 2 pp. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper. He apologizes for the delay in answering her letter and thanking her for sending one on by 'Bloggins'. He is 'an abominable letter writer though that does not mean a change of feelings to one's old friends'. He has received a letter f'rom C. B. himself about the Academy'.

On eight pieces of 8vo paper, one of which has ha d a 3 cm horizontal strip cut away at the foot (not affecting the image). On a variety of different paper types, all wove. Good, on aged paper. Attractive images, ranging in height from 7 to 9 cm, of four women and four men, all clearly belonging to the eighteenth-century middle-classes. Executed in black ink using both pen and brush. Not full silhouettes: in some cases the hair is picked out in white. One of the images, of a young woman with curls and a bow, treated twice in slightly different styles.

4to album of 33 leaves, with the 112 illustrations each on a separate piece of paper, and all laid down on 59 of the album's 66 leaves (the blank leaves of the album bearing traces of other illustrations having been removed). The illustrations range in size from 19 x 15.5 cm to 6 x 3 cm, with the average around 15 x 11 cm. The album's brown cloth covers are faded and worn, but internally the album is sound, with the illustrations themselves in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Around twenty are signed, half with the spelling 'Duchene' and the other half 'Du Chene'.

Folio, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. The heading states that the presentation will take place 'at Free Masons' Hall, Great Queen Street, to the respective Candidates by His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, President, in the following order.' The text, laid out in double column, lists a total of sixty-four successful candidates, numbered under five headings: Agriculture, Chemistry, Polite Arts, Manufactures, Mechanics.

In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Dimensions are approximate. The three illustrations (1815-6), each 8.5 x 4 cm, form three panels on a 10 x 13.5 cm piece of paper.

Goodyer has long been recognised as a significant figure in the arts and crafts movement (see Adburgham's 'Shops and Shopping' and Aslin's 'Aesthetic Movement, Prelude to Art Nouveau'), but surprisingly little is known about him. A former partner in the firm of Liberty's, he founded his Aesthetic Gallery at 55 Bond Street in 1889. It specialized in 'English silks, cashmeres, velveteens, fans, cushions, handkerchiefs, table covers, and other dainty manufactures', and numbered Voysey among its suppliers.

Elliot's illustrations, attractively executed in great detail, recall the style of those in the volumes produced by the publisher B. T. Batsford during the same period. All in excellent condition, the majority with tissue guards; album in good good condition. Fifty-eight of the illustrations, all of Swiss knockers, on paper ranging in size from 21 x 5 cm to 23.5 x 16 cm (the latter the majority), are laid down on the rectos of the first 45 leaves of a 47-leaf landscape folio album (leaf dimensions 36 x 16 cm). All have tissue guards.

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Suggests a couple of alternative days on which he 'will be at liberty to give Sir W. J. Newton a sitting'.

A nice collection of Victorian Shakespeare ephemera. All four items with text clear and complete, on lightly-aged and worn paper. The 'Description' is printed in red, on both sides of a piece of paper 13.5 x 18 cm, with both vertical edges perforated. 'This may be retained as a Souvenir' along one edge. Dated at end 'RICHARD SAVAGE, Secretary and Librarian to the Trustees. | 1896-6.' Along head of first page: 'The Committee request that no Gratuities be offered to the Attendants.' Numbered 22989 in black.

Each drawing 22 x 16 cm, and each neatly mounted on card 31.5 x 22 cm. In good condition, in slightly discoloured mounts and folder. The mounts numbered in pencil in top left-hand corner. In cream folder, with blue cloth spine. Title in blue pencil on front of folder, together with image of hand holding glasses. Illustration of hand painting with brush, surrounded by ink pots, on back of folder. First illustration signed 'GZ | 5.3.66' and last 'GZ 7.4.66' Folder dated 'GZ. | 20.7.66'. Pleasant compositions, with something of an Edward Ardizzone feel about them.

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. 105 lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Black wax seal with impression of 'D L' adhering to reverse of second leaf, which is postmarked 'LOUGHBOROUGH | 109' and franked '1817 | Loughborough March Eight | S. Pipe Wolferston [sic] Esqr | Stotfold Hall | Tamworth | [signed] P. Gell'. Begins 'I have recd. your obliging communication of the 22d.

12mo, 22 pp (followed by final blank leaf). Stitched pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On discoloured and worn paper. 152 'ouvrages d'arts' arranged in alphabetical order under the names of the artists, from 'François Alewaters, peintre à Malines' and 'Henri Adams, à Malines' to 'G. P. Wuyts, de Lierre' and 'L. Zwitzer, de Malines'. Preliminary notice headed 'Police du Salon'. Scarce: no copy on WorldCat or COPAC.

[12]pp., 8vo, unbound, formerly sewn (sewing not present), chipped, outer pages (and inner in parts) grubby and (front) worn at fold mark with minor loss of text, text otherwise complete. Title continued from above "..."in fine condition among which may be names, A MAGDALEN, CARACCI, A Grand Gallery Picture, Landscape and Figures, Very fine, VERMULEN, A Sea Storm, Vernet . . .". Pencil NOTE on front cover "Call for | letters | Herald | Office | James" (perhaps James = James Izod but I don't see why he should have written such a note on somebody's catalogue).

8vo, 12 pp. Stitched as issued. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Two engravings ('Egyptian Obelisks' and 'Egyptian Sarcophagus') in text. Begins 'The subject on which I am about to make a few remarks this evening is the Sculptural Art Treatment of Granitic Surface, or the Surface of Granite.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Written out in one hand, and signed 'Bradley & Co' in another. Addressed to 'W. F. Stocks Esqre | Glen Elwy | St Asaph. | Flint[shire]'. Thirteen lines. Text clear and complete. On foxed and lightly-aged paper. Giving the firm's 'charge for receiving unpacking & delivering pictures to the R.A. or other London Exhibitions' and for 'collecting repacking & forwarding', as well as the dimensions of pictures for which these charges apply.

The proof itself is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, 22 x 14 cm. Dimensions of image roughly 10.5 x 7 cm. Mounted on the original foxed and aged paper, 43 x 29 cm, with wear to extremities, carrying Fisher's inscription in pencil: 'L Stocks Esqr with S Fisher's Comts'. Oval vignette, showing what appears to be a ruined Norman abbey, with stone staircase and high window, a skull, a sword, a helmet, a stork and a key in rushes on water in foreground. Possibly one of the enravings from Leitch Ritchie's 'Ireland, Picturesque and Romantic' (London: Longmans, 1837-8).

The proof itself is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, 24 x 16 cm. Dimensions of image roughly 12 x 10 cm. Mounted on the original foxed and aged paper, 43 x 29 cm, with Fisher's inscription in pencil: 'Bantry Bay Cork. L Stocks Esqr with S Fisher's Comts'. Oval vignette, giving tasteful view from hill, with soldiers and women, down into the bay, with mountains behind. The engraving appeared in Leitch Ritchie's 'Ireland, Picturesque and Romantic' (London: Longmans, 1837-8).

12mo, 2 pp. 15 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper. Providing a 'recommendation as a teacher' for his correspondent, 'in the neighbourhood of Leamington'. 'My observation of the progress you have made, during your studentship at the Royal Academy enables me to state, that, you are, in my opinion fully competent to undertake the teaching of the elementary branches of art'. From a small archive of Walter F. Stocks's correspondence.

12mo, 1 p. Ten lines. Clear and complete. On bifolium with mourning border. Fair, on aged and discoloured paper. Endorsing the application of Walter F. Stocks for 'the vacant professorship of landscape painting in Queen's College'. Stocks 'has been an exhibitor at the Royal Academy for many years' and Calderon 'has admired his paintings on our walls'.

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty lines. Text clear and complete. In bifolium. On aged and discoloured paper, with small closed tears along central fold lines of both leaves. A reference, 'bearing testimony to your perfect efficiency as a teacher of landscape painting possessing, as you do, the first and greatest requisite, namely a power to sketch beautifully from nature, your success should not be short of great. [last word underlined]' Apologises for not answering sooner, caused by 'the loss of your card'. From a small archive of Walter F. Stocks's correspondence.

8vo, 40 pp. Five plates (numbered I to V and with p.40 numbered VI) and thirty illustrations in text. In original brown cloth wraps, with cover bearing white paper label printed in red and black reading 'HUME | METAL ON LEATHER. | 1863.' Tight, on aged paper, in rebacked wraps. Inscribed on front free endpaper 'To W. W. F. Hume Esquire from his the writer 3rd March 1863. Title-page also in red and black. Note on reverse of title: 'This Paper is printed in the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Vol. XIV, for Session 1861-62.

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'.

Printed on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. Leaf dimensions 29 x 23.5 cm. Clear and complete. Grubby, and with closed tears to folds and slight damp staining. An attractive production. Ornate heading, with engraved portrait of Minerva in circular medallion (5.5 cm diameter) surrounded by laurel leaves, 'Drawn & Engd. by W. H. Lizars'. Text engraved in copperplate. Reads (with manuscript part in square brackets): 'Edinburgh [23d. January] 18[34,] | At a meeting of the Society held here on the [22d.

12mo, 1 p. On bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Mr. Simco | Warwick St. | Golden Square.' Asking Simco to send a book 'by the Bearer', as well as ' a remittance upon his account of Holbein', as 'he has some large payments to make at the beginning of next week'.

Two pages, 8vo, bifolium, blank second leaf laid don on stiff paper, c.21 x 27cm, good condition.. He asks Disderi de lui envoyer deux collections des huit vues de Claremont [an earlier refuge in England] & Weybridge qu'il a fait en avril dernier, et un exemplaire du groupe general sur la pelouse de Claremont." He doesn't want the latter mounted but "l'autre collection doit etre montee sur carton." He asks for a "note au compte" made out to him. Note@ Apparently Disderi pioneered the carte de visite.

The collection is in very good condition, on slightly aged and dusty paper. Several items bear the Society's stamp. An interesting and significant correspondence. The letters, in a variety of formats from 12mo to foolscap, are often long, and are written in an informal tone. Indicating Baines's deep involvement in the Society's affairs, they most significantly concern an appeal, organised by Baines on behalf of the Society, 'for the preservation of the cottage architecture of Great Britain', with the backing and involvement of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.