PAINTER

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin band of discoloration beneath the last line. Addressed to ‘J M Swan Esq R.A’. Reads: ‘My dear Mr Swan / Will you dine with me on Thursday June 1st. to meet Mr Leslie and some few artists? / I should be glad if you will. / Yours faithfully / Wm. Agnew’.

An interesting letter, dealings with the practicalities of the artist’s profession in late Victorian/Edwardian England. Hemy was regarded as the leading English marine artist of his generation, with his paintings often selling for in excess of a thousand pounds. With the proceeds he built a grand house which he named Churchfield in Falmouth. 2pp, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. The recipient - presumably his agent - is not named and there is no salutation. Signed ‘C. Napier Hemy.’ Begins: ‘Thanks for cheque enclosed. for which I send over page formal receipt.

An interesting glimpse into the late-Victorian world of English art. Corbet and Swan were close friends - one of Corbet’s paintings remained in Swan’s family until the 1990s. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The three letters are addressed to ‘Dear Swan’ and signed ‘M. R. Corbet’. All three on grey paper, lightly aged and worn, with creasing to Letter One.

A good example of Nash’s attractive and distinctive signature ‘John Nash’ on a very light dotted line, a piece of paper cut into an oval roughly 5 cm wide and 2.5 cm high. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on an irregularly-shaped piece of card. See Image

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded once for postage. The recipient is the novelist George Meredith's daughter Marie Eveleen (Mariette; 1871-1933), wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Addressed to ‘Mrs Sturgis’ and signed ‘Frank Dicksee’. He is sorry to hear of her illness, but ‘fortunately the summer is coming & long before it is here I trust you will be yourself again’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9.5 x 10 cm piece of paper, laid down on 11 cm square piece of card. In good condition, lightly browned and aged. The letterhead is printed in red. The inscription reads ?Faithfully yours / Solomon J Solomon?.

After serving in the Great War, Burn (son of Sir Joseph Burn) studied at the Slade between 1918 and 1922, winning six prizes. After teaching in London at the Royal College, and in Boston, he offered his services to the war effort. After the war he went back to the Royal College, as a senior tutor. The four ot the items here are in fair condition, lightly worn and discoloured. Each is folded once for postage. Although only one is dated, the others appear to date from around the same time. ONE (‘Monday’): 1p, 4to. Unsigned.

An uncommon signature. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of 18 x 10 cm piece of paper. Discoloured and worn, with spike hole. Good firm signature, full of character. Reads: ?174 Edgware Road / Maida Hill / 27 April 1832 / Please deliver to Mr Green or [aide? drdee?order?] my picture not received for the Exhibition / Henry Jutsum / To / Mr. Vaughan / Royal Academy?. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The letter is addressed from the house of Frederick Goodall (also see ODNB), which at other times was occupied by Laurence Alma Tadema and James Murray. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ?My dear Mrs. Calkin? and signed ?Frank Holl?. Twenty-six lines of text in a hurried hand. He thanks her for her ?kind trouble - & for the rifle which my model called for and brought with him this morning?. He is sorry that her son George has been injured.

Postcard (Carte Postale), 14 x 9cm, shade of green, somewhat grubby and crumpled, smudged. See Images. Text: I sent you a letter some weeks ago - making a proposal with reference to a distinguished Sculptor here [Auguste Rodin perhaps]. Did my letter reach you? !! I regret that I shall not be able to be present at the meeting of 7th - I also wrote as you requested to Gilbert, R.A. | Very faitfully yours | J McN. Whistler. The card is addressed to Monsieur Francis Howard, The Exhibition of International Art, Prince's Skating [Club?] Knitsbridge [sic] S.W. London || Angleterre. See Images.

The University of Wyoming American Heritage Center has mounted a ‘traveling exhibit’ of watercolours and diaries from Kennet Were’s 1868-9 journey across the United States, a long account of which he published in the Gazette (‘Nine Months in the United States’) on his return. Were’s obituary in the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, vol. 48, (1916), p. 54, describes him as one of Sidmouth’s ‘most respected inhabitants’ and ‘the prime mover in movements for the improvement of the resort and a supporter of all good causes’, but does not refer to his artistic activities.

See her entry by Jan Marsh in the Oxford DNB, added in 2022 after the publication of Marsh’s ‘Pre-Raphaelite Sisters’ (2019). 9 x 5.5 calling card, engraved in copperplate. In fair condition, lightly aged. Laid out in the customary fashion, with centred ‘Lady Burne-Jones.’, and at bottom left: ‘The Grange, / 49, North End Road, / West Kensington, W.’ In her autograph at head: ‘with sincere thanks / from’, and beneath her engraved name ‘& family’. See image.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from the end of the signature ‘Jas Sant’, which has extended across from the bottom right corner of the reverse of the first leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with the reverse of the second leaf laid down on a rectangle of grey paper cut from a leaf of an album. Addressed to ‘G. Lance Esqr.’ The letter begins: ‘My Dear Sir / My best thanks for your note. Depend upon it I will look to myself and in doing so look to yr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present item is 2pp, 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘John Rothenstein’.

[xxii.164.[4 list of other works by author]. With illustrations, 10 plates and 36 Line Sketches, Maps and Plans. Condition mainly good but ink stain and some light rucking on cover. WITH (on a front free ep); original drawing by Maxwell of The Streets of Askelon with inscription to the Dean Of Rochester, To the Dean of Rochester | A little memento of Palestine with all good wishes from the painter, | Rochester May 1921. SEE IMAGE.

An uncommon signature of a neglected artist. Hawkins was a founding member of the Society of British Artists, exhibiting there prolifically from 1824 to 1881. He also showed at the Royal Academy eight times between 1822 and 1849. (See Holmes's entry in the Oxford DNB.) On 14 cm square piece of watermarked wove paper, cut from a frank. The letter is written on the reverse of the cover, which is laid out in the customary way: ‘London third July 1838 / Wm. Loney Esq / Macclesfield.’ With red dated postmark, and signed in the customary way at bottom left: ‘John [Baron?]’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Begins: ‘Mr. Westall presents his compliments to Miss Macirone & begs to assure her how very much obliged to her he feels for the honor she has done him in sending him two tickets for her morning concert’. He will have ‘the greatest pleasure in attending’ the concert, and is ‘quite sure he shall be very much delighted’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and creased. Folded twice for postage. She begins by thanking her for her letter on her ‘portrait in the Daily Express’, which ‘is not finished yet and I have possibly another two months to do on it, but the Daily Express (because of the Liberace case) thought it would be nice to do it so I had to accede to their request’. Referring to her campaign to improve the quality of British paints she states that her ‘trouble with my paints is not yet over.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with one dog-eared corner. He writes that he has ‘had the engraving photographed’, and can ‘return it together with the casting’, with ‘very many thanks to you for being so kind as to lend it to me’.

6pp, 12mo, on two bioliums. A long letter, neatly and closely written. In stamped envelope, with stamps and postmark, addressed to ‘Miss Sprott / Magavelda / Blakeney / Holt [Norfolk]’ and signed ‘John Bacon’. The letter and envelope are in fair condition, on slightly discoloured paper and with short closed tears along the folds made for postage. He begins: ‘Dear Miss Sprott.

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) Interesting London ephemera: the plans for the Refectory Club were clearly ambitious, but there is little to be gleaned about it, and it is unclear whether it even opened. Zinkeisen and her sister Dora are the subject of a 2022 monograph by Philip Kelleway, Emma Roodhouse and Nicola Evans. The four items in good condition, lightly aged, but with rust staining from a paperclip. Folded for postage. ONE: Typed Letter to MP, signed ‘D Mallett’ (but with ‘For Secretary’ typed beneath this). 1p, 4to.

1p, 16. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of grey paper, with simple drawing in the same ink as the text of a straight plain walking stick stuck in the ground and running up the left-hand margin, with the handle hooked to the right at the top with the dating to its right. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘le 25 Decembre 89.

As a naturalized British subject, resident in England from the 1850s to 1903, Haag has an entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Mr. Carl Haag presents his compliments to Mr. & Mrs. Arbuthnot Guthrie, and very much regrets not being able to accept their polite invitation for Wednesday next, having already accepted a previous engagement for that day.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On a leaf of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient was studying at the Royal Academy Schools. Begins: ‘Dear Miss Towgood / Thanks for your letter and enclosed statement by Mr Percy Young.’ He asks to be sent ‘the names of the authors of the various “Cartoons” and “Creswick”’, so that he may have all his material ‘ready for the Council on Tuesday next’. He intended to ask her for the names in ‘the Schools’ (of the Royal Academy at Burlington House), ‘but a sudden attack of Influenza confines me to my room by the Doctor’s order’.

Redgrave’s entry in the Oxford DNB praises his ‘exceptional administrative skill’, and states that ‘Redgrave and Cole supervised the new South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), for which Redgrave designed the innovative art gallery to house John Sheepshanks's extensive collection of British art, given to the state in 1857.’ 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, laid down on part of a leaf from an autograph album. Pasted down at the head of the letter is a thin strip on which is printed ‘Inspector-General for Art. R. Redgrave, R.A.’ The male recipient is unnamed.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Eighteen lines of text. Begins: ‘Mr H Gastineau presents his compliments to Miss Nelson and in consequence of having received her address from Miss Stringer relative to a wish to receive some instruction from him, he writes’, giving details of when he would be able ‘to give a lesson at Windham Place’, were he to ‘receive a line to say that such an arrangement’ was desirable, after which ‘future appointments can be made’.

See the entries for Long, Forbes and Burgess in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of tape from mount along one edge. Signed ‘Edwin Long’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir Richard / I have just had a chat about your kind enquiry with my friend Burgess, who knows everybody’. While Burgess ‘says Stanhope Forbes is the best man coming on & that he has painted some very good portraits’, from what Long himself remembers of his work, it seems ‘very black’. He concludes: ‘Why not give it to Burgess? he is painting capitally just now & I know he would be very pleased.’

Pye was an active figure in nineteenth-century British art. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB he was the engravers’ ‘best spokesman’, hoping ‘to raise the fortunes, status, and public profile of engravers by means of professional association and co-operation’. He was the author of a number of works, including 'Patronage of British Art' (1845). His collection of prints after Turner was acquired by the British Museum in 1869, and the proofs of Turner's ‘Liber Studiorum’ followed in 1870. His notebooks are in British Library.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and that of his brothers the architect Leonard Scott Stokes and the inventor of the ‘Stokes Gun’ Sir Wilfred Scott Stokes. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘Adrian Stokes’. He has added the word ‘at’ above the letterhead, indicating that the residence is not his (it is in fact the house that his brother Leonard designed for himself).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient is named as ‘J. Pendred Broadhurst Esq’. Boughton begins by thanking him for his ‘kind note’. He is ‘quite out of photos for the moment - there has been such “a run on” me’. His portrait is not ‘in commerce’. He is enclosing ‘a Menu Card (of a dinner given me by Messrs Harper in New York)’, which has ‘a portrait by Mr L. Alma Tadema R.A. which I think is a little out of the Common. There is also an illustration from our book - (E. A.