DICKENSIANA

[DICKENSIANA. Set of six ‘Pickwick Papers’ shadow casters (Mr Pickwick; Mr. Weller, Senr., Sam Weller, Jingle, [J]ob Trotter, Fat Boy) on card, four of them with dark areas carefully cut away, of which one is completed.

Author: 
DICKENSIANA. Six ‘Pickwick Papers’ shadow casters. [Charles Dickens; Magic Lantern Show]
DICKENSIANA
Publication details: 
No date. [Edwardian?] London?
£400.00
DICKENSIANA

A set of six scarce pieces of unusual Dickensiana. Difficult to date: the nature of the illustrations (printed in negative) gives them a modernist feel, but their purpose would place them before the 1920s. The six items, printed in black on pieces of grey-white card, range in size from 12 x 16.5 cm (‘SAM WELLER.’) to 4.5 x 6 cm (‘JOB TROTTER’). In good condition, lightly aged. Four of the six have soot stains on their blank reverses, presumably caused by the hot lantern.

Reproduction of a drawing of G.F. Watts, artist, by Rudolf Lehmann, from 'R. Lehmann's Portrait Studies', presented in the style of a studio photograph.

Author: 
Rudolf Lehmann [Wilhelm Augustus Rudolf Lehmann] (1819-1905), Genre and portrait painter [G.F. Watts; Frederick Bruckmann, bookseller, Southampton Street, Strand, London]
Publication details: 
Fred. Bruckmann, London, 17 Southampton Street, Strand. No date.
£100.00

Printed on a piece of 14 x 9.5 cm india paper, laid down on a piece of 17 x 11.5 cm card, with rounded edges, good condition. Printed at the head of the card is 'R. LEHMANN'S PORTRAIT STUDIES.' And at the foot: 'G.F. WATTS | FRED. BRUCKMANN, LONDON, | 17 Southampton Street, Strand.' Beneath the image, in small type: 'Lehmann del.' and 'Registered.' Lehmann was born in Hamburg and moved to London in 1866. He wrote two books.

Reproduction of a drawing of G.F. Watts, artist, by Rudolf Lehmann, from 'R. Lehmann's Portrait Studies', presented in the style of a studio photograph.

Author: 
Rudolf Lehmann [Wilhelm Augustus Rudolf Lehmann] (1819-1905), Genre and portrait painter [G.F. Watts; Frederick Bruckmann, bookseller, Southampton Street, Strand, London]
Publication details: 
Fred. Bruckmann, London, 17 Southampton Street, Strand. No date.
£100.00

Printed on a piece of 14 x 9.5 cm india paper, laid down on a piece of 17 x 11.5 cm card, with rounded edges, good condition. Printed at the head of the card is 'R. LEHMANN'S PORTRAIT STUDIES.' And at the foot: 'G.F. WATTS | FRED. BRUCKMANN, LONDON, | 17 Southampton Street, Strand.' Beneath the image, in small type: 'Lehmann del.' and 'Registered.' Lehmann was born in Hamburg and moved to London in 1866. He wrote two books.

[W. T. Spencer, London bookseller and Dickens specialist.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Miss Winifred Bois, urging her to buy a volume of drawings in a double case. With Autograph Letter Signed on the subject from Bois to London bookseller Sawyer.

Author: 
W. T. Spencer [Walter Thomas Spencer] (d.1936) of 27 New Oxford Street, bookseller specialising in Dickensiana
Publication details: 
Spencer's two letters both from Grange House, Shanklin, Isle of Wight. 23 and 26 February [1931]. Bois's letter to Sawyer: on letterhead of 32 Phillimore Walk, Kensington, London, W8. 14 March 1966.
£120.00

Spencer was a sharp operator (see Mandelbrote ed., 'Out of Print and into Profit', pp.285-287) and the present items give an hint of his methods. (The two letters are addressed from the premises at which his staff were said to practice their 'sophistications'.) His two letters (both signed 'W. T. Spencer') are in good condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with the second dated by Bois to 1931. Bois's letter (signed 'Winifred Bois') is in fair condition, with a short closed tear along one edge. Letter One: Spencer to Bois, 23 February [1931].

[F. G. Kitton, Dickensian.] Autograph Letter Signed and Autograph Card Signed (both 'F. G. Kitton') to Winfield S. Moody, editor of The Book Buyer, discussing the claim that Dickens's works were written by Herbert Spencer', and a query on Thackeray.

Author: 
F. G. Kitton [Frederic George Kitton] (1856-1904), illustrator, writer and authority on Charles Dickens [Winfield S. Moody (1816-1894), editor of The Book Buyer; Dickensiana]
Publication details: 
Both items from Pré Mill House, St Albans, England. 19 and 27 March 1999.
£140.00

LETTER: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. Kitton writes that he has received two copies of the Book Buyer for March, and is 'much interested' in it for two reasons: 'Mrs. Garlands flattering comments upon myself and my work', and 'a very generous notice of my latest Dickens production'. He finds illustrations 'excellently reproduced', and praises 'the careful attention that has obviously been bestowed upon the preparation of both blocks and letterpress'. Turning to another matter, he notes 'a query (no.

Engraved circular letter and 'Balance Sheets for 1858 and 1859' of the Playground and General Recreation Society (including reference to a speech by Charles Dickens), forwarded by secretary Edward West to committee-member Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan.

Author: 
Edward West, Secretary, The Playground and General Recreation Society, London [Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan [née Frend] (1809-92), wife of mathematician Augustus De Morgan (1806-71); Charles Dickens]
Publication details: 
West's engraved letter: 97 Newgate Street, London; 31 January 1860. The balance sheets dated to end of the years 1858 and 1859.
£95.00

3pp., 4to. In bifolium. Good, on aged and lightly-creased paper. 'Mrs. de Morgan' in manuscript at the foot of the first page, and 'No 5' at the head. The first page carries the circular letter from 'Edwd. West, Secy.', engraved in copperplate. In sending the balance sheets he notes that 'the income is scarcely equal to the expenditure which is necessary for obtaining for the Society public support'.

Reproduction of a drawing of Charles Dickens by Rudolf Lehmann, from 'R. Lehmann's Portrait Studies', presented in the style of a carte de visite.

Author: 
Rudolf Lehmann [Wilhelm Augustus Rudolf Lehmann] (1819-1905), Genre and portrait painter [Charles Dickens; Frederick Bruckmann, bookseller, Southampton Street, Strand, London]
Publication details: 
Fred. Bruckmann, London, 17 Southampton Street, Strand. No date.
£120.00

Printed on a piece of 14 x 9.5 cm india paper, laid down on a piece of 17 x 11.5 cm card, with rounded edges. Aged and faded, but nevertheless a nice item of Dickensiana. A sensitive study of Dickens's face, above a heavily-faded facsimile of his signature. Printed at the head of the card is 'R. LEHMANN'S PORTRAIT STUDIES.' And at the foot: 'CHARLES DICKENS | FRED.

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