[Martin Hardie, artist, engraver, art historian, and a Victoria & Albert Museum Keeper.] Autograph Card Signed to C. H. Whitby, regarding an engraving by the disciple of William Blake, Samuel Palmer.

See Hardie's entry in the Oxford DNB. 11.5 x 9 cm card. Printed with penny stamp in red; no illustration. In fair condition, discoloured and a little worn. Addressed by Hardie to 'C. H. Whitby | 82, Crofton Park | Yeovil.' (Whitby is the author of a handful of books of reglious poetry.) Whitby would appear to be offering for sale, or at least asking for advice about, an impression of Palmer's celebrated engraving 'The Bellman'. Hardie begins his reply: 'As long as there is sufficient margin of paper outside the plate-mark, the actual size of the sheet on which a Palmer etching was printed does not matter.' The museum has 'proofs of the Bellman, but not one of the actual issue made by the Fine Art Socy. in 1879'. He cannot see why 'the value of the print' should be affected by the trimming of the paper.