Engraving ('ACTS XXVII XXXV') by Eric Gill from a drawing by David Jones; with long typewritten transcript from a letter from Jones to Evan Gill.

The engraving illustrates the biblical passage describing an incident during the wreck off Crete of a ship carrying Saint Paul. Acts 27:35: 'And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.' Printed on one side of a piece of paper, 28 x 19 cm, with one rough edge. A striking image, irregularly shaped, with white lines against a black background, showing centurions and others on the deck of a ship on a stormy sea, with land in the distance. The figure of Saint Paul seems to hover in the rigging, with birds around him, offering bread and fishes on a table. Good clear impression, on creased and lightly-aged paper. The typescript (8vo, 1 p, 38 lines) is headed 'From a letter from David Jones to Evan Gill dated November 11th, 1957'. It carries one manuscript correction and the note 'from letter of 22 XI '57'. Text clear and complete on creased paper. An interesting and informative communication, beginning 'The engraving for signature [the present copy is unsigned] arrived safely last week. Thank you for your letter with it. I had heard from that good man Arthur Wheen of the V and A that you might be sending it to me for examination. Well, the actual engraving was made by Eric. He did it from a pencil drawing of mine.' He does not know 'the date or the circumstances of its being done', but is certain that 'it does not belong to the period when I lived with Eric'. Thinks that it was 'conceived as a thing made of black lines on a white ground', and that it 'does not work properly as white on black, I fear - it looks like a negative, a bit [...] It has obvious affinities with the intaglio copper engravings I did for the Ancient Mariner (published in 1929) [...] I wonder if it was, by any chance, done for some American religious periodical - I vaguely remember that in the 1930s there was a Catholic liturgical publication for which I believe Eric sometimes did something - but I may be quite wrong about this. [...]'