[ Horace Annesley Vachell, Edwardian novelist and playwright. ] Studio photograph by Swaine's, with autograph signature ('Horace Annesley Vachell.').

Sepia-coloured studio photograph on 19 x 14 cm card. Backed on the reverse with brown paper on which are printed the details of the photographic studio responsible, Swaine's of London and Southsea. The print itself is in good condition, lightly aged and worn; the reverse is heavily-worn with traces of glue from previous mounting. Vachell has written his underlined signature in black ink diagonally upwards at the bottom right-hand corner: 'Horace Annesley Vachell.' This studio photograph of Vachell is not present in the National Portrait Gallery collection. It shows a seated and somewhat smug-looking Vachell, in tweedy jacket and waistcoat, with bow tie, white shirt with stiff collar, and checked trousers, with papers on his lap over crossed legs. It bears out the words of L. A. G. Strong, who writes in his entry on Vachell in the Oxford DNB that he 'had at all times a distinguished appearance, particularly in his later years, when his noble head and silvery hair gave him both dignity and panache'.