GLASS

[Laurence Whistler, engraver etc] Five black and white photographs numbered L.W. 30 to L.W.34 on reverse of a glass goblet ornately etched by Whistler for Mark Bonham Carter.

Author: 
Laurence Whistler, [Sir Alan Charles Laurence Whistler CBE (21 January 1912 – 19 December 2000) British glass engraver and poet.]
whistler
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but 1946-7.
£175.00
whistler

Dimensions six inches by eight. Four of the photographs very good, the other good, but with staining in one corner (capable of professional cleaning). Good, clear, professional images against a black background. The goblet was commissioned by Bonham Carter from Whistler as a wedding present to the present queen of England on her marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh. The body is etched with intricate images and the words 'Elizabeth | so be it ever, joy and peace. | And mutual love give you increase, | That your posterity may grow | In fame, as long as seas do flow.

[W. & G. Foyle (Foyles), Charing Cross Road booksellers.] Printed prospectus for ‘The Centenary Life of Lewis Carroll ' by Langford Reed, published by the firm as a ‘Trefoile Publication’.

Author: 
Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ [Langford Reed; W. & G. Foyle, booksellers (Foyles), Charing Cross Road, London; Trefoile Publications]
Carroll
Publication details: 
[1932.] ‘A Trefoile Publication from the House of - W. & G. FOYLE, Ltd., 119-125, Charing Cross Road, London, W.C.1’.
£120.00
Carroll

This prospectus is a scarce item: no other copy has been traced. A 4to bifolium, with four unnumbered pages printed in red. Somewhat aged and worn, with a horizontal strip of light discoloration at the head of the cover, which has the title and author’s name surrounded by a border made up of Tenniel’s illustrations, beneath this is a quotation from Dodgson’s poetry and the price of ‘7/6 net’. Across the middle two pages is the heading ‘The Centenary “Life of Lewis Carroll”’. The text begins by explaining that Reed has made use of Dodgson’s letters to Ellen Terry.

[W. E. S. Turner, chemist and pioneer of scientific glass technology.] Eight Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to George Menzies, Secretary, Royal Academy of Arts.

Author: 
W. E. S. Turner [William Ernest Stephen Turner] (1881-1963), chemist and pioneer of scientific glass technology, founder of the Turner Museum of Glass, Sheffield University [Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1919, 1920, 1922 (2), 1923 (4) and 1924. Seven on letterheads of the Department of Glass Technology, The University, Darnall Road, Sheffield; the first two (1919 and 1920) on letterheads of the Society of Glass Technology, The University, Sheffield.
£220.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The fibre-glass dress in which his second wife Helen married him is exhibited in his museum at the University of Sheffield, and was included in the 2010 BBC radio series A History of the Word in 100 Objects. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. The nine items are in good condition, on lightly aged paper, and are folded for postage. All nine are signed 'W. E. S. Turner'. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

[George Kruger Gray; Great Expectations] Four Autograph Letters Signed George Kruger Gray to Mr Clementson concerning his drawings for a new edition of Great Expectations and other current work. With photos of drawings.

Author: 
George Kruger Gray [(1880 – 1943), artist, best remembered for his designs of coinage and stained glass windows].
Publication details: 
[Printed] George Kruger Gray | 5 St Paul's Studios | Colet Gardens. W.14, 10 and 15 June and 24 and 29 July 1924.
£600.00

Total 2pp 4to, & 10pp. 12mo, very good condition. WITH (separate envelope), in Gray's hand, List of 28 drawings by George Kruger Gray of 'Great Expectations' [said list with page numbers] The pages are those in the 'Gadshill' Edition.] AND eleven (11) photographs (see sample image), ranging from 6 x 6.5 cms to 12.5 x 10 cms, of scenes and characters from Great Expectations, two the same image but different sizes and quality, perhaps the incomplete series he refers to in Letter Two.

[Charles Buller Heberden, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'C B Heberden') to Sir Richard Harington, concerning the replacement of a college stained glass window, Harington taking the old one.

Author: 
Charles Buller Heberden (1849-1921), classical scholar and Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford [Sir Richard Harington (1835-1911), 11th Baronet, of Ridlington and Whitbourne Court]
Publication details: 
2, 4 and 14 January 1897. All three on letterhead of Brasenose College, Oxford.
£150.00

The three letters total 7pp, 12mo. All three in good condition, on lightly aged paper. From the papers of Sir Richard Harington (1835-1911), 11th Baronet, whose father Rev. Dr Richard Harington (1800-1853), had been Principal from 1842 to his death. All three endorsed by Harington with date of receipt. The subject is the replacement of a stained glass window in the college, with Harington receiving the old window, which he put up at his Worcestershire country house, Whitbourne Court.

[Laurence Whistler, poet, artist and glass engraver.] Two Autograph Letters Signed ('Laurence Whistler' and 'Laurence') to playwright Christopher Fry, one expressing admiration of his work, the other a moving tribute to his friend Christopher Hassall

Author: 
Laurence Whistler [Sir Alan Charles Laurence Whistler] (1912-2000), poet, artist and glass engraver [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright; Christopher Hassall (1912-1963), actor, poet and author]
Publication details: 
Both on letterhead of Little Place, Lyme Regis, Dorset. 13 December 1961 and 21 August 1963.
£180.00

Both 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in Whistler's calligraphic hand. ONE: 13 December 1961. He will be 'so pleased' if Fry will accept a copy of his poems, 'which I like to send you because of my admiration for your work, and sense of sympathy with what you express, or create'. TWO: 21 August 1963. 33 lines of text, written following the death of his friend Christopher Hassall.

[ Winchester Cathedral, the Philpot Window. ] Detailed coloured drawing by Alice Philpot of the stained glass window she donated to the Cathedral in memory of her husband, son and family. With newspaper cutting of long article describing the window.

Author: 
Alice Philpot [ The Philpot Window, Winchester Cathedral ]
Publication details: 
[ Winchester Cathedral. ] Dated by Philpot 29 July 1917.
£320.00

John Vaughan, in his 'Winchester Cathedral, its Monuments and Memorials' (1919), describes the Philpot Window on p.303, stating that it was executed by Messrs. Powell of Whitefriars, and was 'the gift of Mrs. Alice Philpot, whose husband and son are also commemorated'. On the strength of the present illustration, Alice Philpot is quite capable of having designed the window in addition to donating it. It is on one side of a piece of laid grey tracing paper, roughly 57 x 36 cm.

[ James Hogan; stained glass ] Autograph Letter Signed "James Hogan" to "Davis" [ Royal Society of Arts ]

Author: 
James Hogan [James Humphries Hogan (1883–1948), English stained glass designer with the firm of James Powell and Sons
Publication details: 
17 Bute Gardens, Brook Green, Hammersmith, W6, 2 July 1942.
£45.00

One page, 4to, good condition. "It is not possible to give an opinion as to the value of the drawings referred to by Messrs Mills & Bantock in their letter without seeing them. | I would suggest that you should ask for a sample to be sent to the Society and then either Mr Dugdale, Mr Geoffrey Holmes, Mr Milne or myself could look at it on the 13th either before or after the Council meeting. | However it would be advisable not to commit the Society to giving an opinion but only that it would give the matter consideration."

[ George Kruger Gray, artist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, declining to give a lecture on heraldry.

Author: 
George Kruger Gray (1880-1943), English artist, designer of coinage and stained glass windows [ G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts ]
Publication details: 
40 Abingdon Road, Kensington, W8. 2 December 1921.
£38.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of sunning at foot. Docketed with stamp of the Royal Society of Arts. Having 'had time to consider the question of a lecture on Heraldry' he has decided to decline Menzies's invitation, as he 'simply cannot spare the time such a lecture would require for its preparation'.

[Stained Glass] Autograph Letter Signed 'C.E. Kempe' to 'Mrs. de Robeck' about her seeing his 'man's' work.

Author: 
C.E. Kempe [Charles Eamer Kempe (1837–1907), Victorian stained glass designer and manufacturer
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] 28 Nottingham Place, W. [London], 16 Jan. 1907 [died in April].
£75.00

Three pages, 12mo (large hand). "I am sure my man - Mr Tombleson - will be glad to show you - & your friends - his work completed - & his work in course of completion. | But the sky is not [underlined] favourable - You must try & find a sunny day [...] ". He discusses his new home, and thanks her for her Christmas card."

Keywords:

Two Victorian stained glass windows, each with a central panel relief in white glass paste and grisaille, each with an image from Steuben depicting Esmeralda, from Victor Hugo's 'Hunchback of Notre Dame', dancing with, and nursing, her goat.

Author: 
[Victorian stained glass window; Charles de Steuben (1788-1856); Victor Hugo (1802-1885), author of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1831)]
Publication details: 
[British, c.1850?]
£300.00

Each wIndow is 22 x 20 cm, with a central 16 x 14 cm panel of white glass, surrounded by a border made up of eight pieces (2 x 2cm corner squares with stars in orange glass, connected by 2 x 14cm rectangular purple panels). Each window has a set of two metal loops at head, for hanging. Metal frame rusted on both, and two border panels cracked on one, otherwise in good condition, with both white glass reliefs undamaged. The two housed in a contemporary silk-lined black leather box with brass clasps.

Autograph Manuscript Signed, an untitled holograph poem by the Scottish writer and artist James Ballantine, beginning 'Confide ye aye in Providence, for Providence is Kind'.

Author: 
James Ballantine (c.1807-1877), Scottish writer and artist in stained glass
Publication details: 
Edinburgh; 16 August 1856.
£500.00

1p., landscape 8vo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Well presented, with the second blank leaf neatly inserted into a windowpane border. The poem is sixteen lines long, arranged in four stanzas, neatly written out on a piece of wove paper. The first stanza reads 'Confide ye aye in Providence, for Providence is Kind | And bear ye a' lifes changes, wi a calm an' tranquil mind | Though pressed an' hemmed on every side, hae faith, an' ye'll win through | For ilka blade o grass keeps its ain drap o dew'.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (two 'Leonard Walker' and the other 'L. W.') to C. R. Grundy, concerning a stained-glass window.

Author: 
Leonard Walker (1877-1964), Principal of the St John's Wood School of Art, and member of the Art Workers Guild [Cecil Reginald Grundy (1870-1944), editor of the Connoisseur]
Leonard Walker, Stained Glass, Letters
Publication details: 
16, 17 and 31 December 1935; all three items on letterhead of Walker's studio in King Henry's Road, London.
£110.00
Leonard Walker, Stained Glass, Letters

All three items 8vo. The first of two pages, and the other two of one page each. Texts clear and complete. Fair on aged, creased and slightly-discoloured paper. Discussing his disagreement with the architect of a building over the width of two proposed uprights. Walker considers that these 'would handicap the fullest expression'. The first letter carries a simple pencil diagram of the window. He feels 'we shall all have forgotten this point' when the window is seen 'in all its glory'.

Broadside titled 'King Crispin. The ancient and modern history of King Crispin, with a particular account of the plan and order of the grand procession, time of meeting, &c.'

Author: 
Robert Martin, Edinburgh printer [Freemasonry; the Craft; broadsides; street ballads; handbills]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: 'Printed for, and sold by R. MARTIN . . . . Price one penny. | Glass, Printer, South Niddry Street'. [Between 1832 and 1851?]
£175.00

Printed on one side of wove paper roughly 41.5 x 17 cm. Text clear and complete. On aged, creased and grubby paper. In two columns, headed by the title and royal crest. Begins 'Bannatyne's Key to the Almanack gives the following account of Sts Crispin and Crispianus, brothers, [...]'. Concludes: 'In a short time Crispin ascended the throne, [...] he was sainted and the Shoemakers, through gratitude for the privileges conferred on them, made him their tutelar saint'.

Autograph Letter Signed "C Cahier" to an auctioneer "Chaumette des fosses, chez M. Labitte . . ."). In French (En Francais).

Author: 
Charles Cahier, "French iconographer of medieval sculpture and decorative arts" (1807-82).
Publication details: 
No place, 22 October [no year given].
£86.00

He describes how he came to find a book which he desperately needs for his studies or "travaux du moment" ("vitraux"; stained glass) in an auction catalogue. He gives details of the book ("D, del Corro, Dissertation theol.", etc). He would like to buy it for 5 francs before the auction (taking place on 17 November). He makes another request on behalf of M. Vermeil.

Autograph Note Signed AND Typed Letter Signed to the Secretary of the Royal Society of Arts (Menzies).

Author: 
Bernard Rackham.
Publication details: 
Victoria & Albert Museum, 5 and 20 May 1925.
£85.00

Museum Curator and Authority on Ceramics (see DNS). Total, two pages, good condition. (5 May 1925) "I have handed on your enquiry to Mr. A.J. Koop, my colleague who deals with cloisonne enamels. My own concern with enamelling is limited to painted enamels." (20 May) He expresses pleasure at being invited to judge "the designs for pottery and glass at the forthcoming competition of the Society of Arts. . ." Two items,

Five Autograph Letters Signed to [G. K. Menzies,] the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Maurice Drake
Publication details: 
2 October 1922; 21 November 1922; 1 December 1922; 26 February 1923; 22 March 1923; the first four on letterhead 'The Three Gables, | Cathedral Close, | Exeter', the fifth on embossed letterhead 'COLWELL COTTAGE, | EXETER.'
£250.00

English glass painter and novelist (1875-1923). All five items in very good condition, and all but the third and fifth stamped and docketed. ITEM ONE: two pages, 4to. He will be 'delighed and honoured by reading a paper before the R.S.A.' Gives a choice of dates and states 'I shall want a lantern.' He wants 'to draw the Society's attention to the fact that the various processes in making a modern window follow the developments of stained glass from the 11th (or perhaps the 9th) century to the beginning of the 15th.' Explains his thesis in some detail, and discusses possible titles.

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