LANDSCAPE

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.Addressed to 'Dear Miss Lewis' and with good firm signature 'Alfred Parsons'. He will be very pleased to dine with her the following Friday, '& dance one set of Lancers after; I feel much complimented at being asked with the young people'.

An interesting item, providing valuable biographical information. The Gills were a prominent family of English painters, all puzzingly absent from the Oxford DNB. Edmund Gill’s father was the portrait painter Edmund Ward Gill (1794–1854) and among his brothers were the painters William Ward Gill (1823–1894) and George Reynolds Gill (1827–1904). After studying at the Royal Academy he fell under the influence of David Cox. The present item relates to Gill’s entry in the 1884 eleventh edition of the Routledge reference work by Thompson Cooper, ‘Men of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries’.

An attractive and highly-finished production, in black ink, on 17.5 x 20.5 cm piece of wove paper, glued on the reverse at the four corners to a leaf extracted from the autograph album of the novelist George Meredith and his daughter Marie Eveleen (Mariette; 1871-1933), wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Parsons' monogram signature 'AP. in its two-bordered square is at the bottom left of the drawing, and there is an additional autograph signature with date to the right of the drawing on the leaf of the Meredith album: 'Alfred Parsons.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, slightly discoloured, with traces of grey paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. Folded once for postage. The year is not given, but the water mark appears to read ‘[18]21’. Good clear signature. Fielding writes: ‘My Dear Madam, / I shall have much pleasure in shewing you the pictures which I have prepared for the Exhibition, should it be agreeable to Mrs. Sharp & yourself to come to Newman at any hour on Monday or Tuesday next, & I hope you will do me the favour of persuading Mr Sharp to accompany you.

A good illustrated article on Groves and his boats is to be found in the magazine ‘The Gull’, March 2013, pp.19-26 (available online), emphasizing his ‘brilliant line drawings in British Seagull’s early post-war advertising’. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Neatly folded twice. Twenty typed lines beneath the heading ‘A Bird Sanctuary for Lymington.’ Some lines and passages lightly underlined in red pencil. Signed at foot by Groves, as ‘Organiser and (Sec: pro-tem)’. Begins: ‘An Important Meetings is to be held in / The Assembly Room. Angel Hotel. Lymington. / on / Friday.

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.

1p, 12mo. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf, with small seal in black wax, to 'J Scoles Esqr | Argyll Place'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with damage to second leaf from breaking of seal. Folded twice. Written in a tight, florid hand. Reads: 'Dear Sir | I hear there will be no admission into Your Church tomorrow without tickets. If you should have any of said Tickets to spare, please to favour with one two or three according to circumstances – Yours Very Faithfully | J Landseer'.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. A white label has been stuck over the letter's salutation, but MacWhirter writes the name of the recipient at the end of the letter: 'W. Agnew Esq'. He cannot express the pleasure he felt on receiving Agnew's letter.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks her for remembering him and sending 'that splendid photograph of yourself – I really think it is the best I have seen'. He continues: 'I have been “slogging” away at water-colours for a shew in Manchester and so have kept pretty busy.' He is sending 'a Nile water colour to the New Gallery', and has sent 'an oil to the Academy – they are sure to kick it out so I shan't mind'. He hopes that she and her sister 'are all right' and 'enjoying this lovely weather'.

On one side of what is clearly a fly-leaf removed from a book. In fair condition, aged and worn, skilfully placed in a windowpane mount of cream paper, to which a white stub still adheres. Written in a small hand at the head of the recto: 'Guillaume Shenstone | du College de Pembroke | en Oxford. | 1734.'

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Mourning border. The recipient's 'most entertaining note' finds Tayler 'just starting off to Highgate'. He only has time 'for a line in reply', and he ventures 'at the risk of being thought impertinent' to advise the recipient's mother not to 'put too Fanciful a price on the Sketches, but let them go to the advancement of the Charity with all their imperfections on their heads'. Tayler considers himself 'the obliged party', and ends with his best respects.

1p., 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. On a bifolium, with the blank second leaf neatly laid down on a grey card mount, with a slip of paper carrying the address laid down on it: 'W. G. Herdman Esqr. Secy. | Liverpool Academy | Post Office Place | Liverpool'. She writes: 'Sir/ | Will you Oblige me with a line by return to say when the Exhibition is likely to close, and if any of our Pictures are as yet Sold. Apologising for this trouble | I remain | Sir | Your's [sic] respectfully | Charlotte Nasmyth'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper, laid down on part of a leaf from an album. He writes that he has 'carefully looked over the Copy of "Turner's England and Wales," that will be offered for Sale at Christies rooms on Tuesday next', and that while he finds it 'in all respects good of its kind, and applicable to the Library of a gentleman', it is 'not so well applicable to the Studio of an Artist, whose aim is to acquire from it, all the knowledge that a more refined class of impressions of places might impart to him'.

4pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly-aged and worn. Long closely-written letter, friendly and informative. Topics include the breaking of his right arm, the weather in Johannesburg ('I do not take my landscapes in winter - but our Transvaal summer is my time to operate with the camera to record the trees - the clouds & all the mood that goes with it'), Adams's support for 'the London Salon panel of prints'.

On watermarked laid paper. Dimensions of paper: 23 x 32cm. Dimensions of plate: 14 x 20cm. In fair condition, aged and lightly stained, with creasing and short closed tear to right-hand margin, but with the engraving good and clear. A windy scene, with a turbulent cloudy sky weighing heavily over a disheveled windswept landscape, in which two small figures can be made out on a bridge. Inscribed in pencil beneath the plate: 'Oliver Hall | To R. Wallace | Ed: 40.' The title 'Hayling Island' is in pencil in the bottom right-hand corner.

On F. J. Head & Co. laid paper. Dimensions of paper: 23 x 29cm. Dimensions of plate: 17.5 x 25cm. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. A wonderful watery view of a winding country river and trees. Inscribed in pencil on the reverse: 'To Father Richard. This is working Proof for drypoint "The River" | Robin Wallace July 1927'. Wallace, a well-known painter of landscapes and still life subjects in oil and water-colour, was born at Kendal in the Lake District and studied in Kensington at the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art.

2pp., 4to. Aged and creased, mounted in windowpane on leaf removed from album. Liscard Hall was built for the former Mayor of Liverpool and slave-ship captain Sir John Tobin. Allen writes that since arriving there he has 'painted too little subjects', and that he has 'a wish' to 'leave them behind me - but not unframed - size of Pictures 16in: x 12in:' If Cobbett does not have 'two tolerable frames of that size' he asks him to order two: 'I do not require the "best double distilled - extra hyper - superfine" - but something tolerably good looking'.

1p., 12mo. Fourteen lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is sorry to have put Monkhouse to 'the trouble of writing', and hopes someday to show him his 'best etchings'. 'I have been exhibiting etchings at R.A. for about 10 years: and my published work has been very favourably noticed in the "Times", "Athenaeum" "Academy" &c. &c.' He is enclosing (not present) an article which 'the Gazette des Beaux Arts' carried on his work, 'so long ago as 1876'.

12mo, 1 p. Ten lines. Clear and complete. On bifolium with mourning border. Fair, on aged and discoloured paper. Endorsing the application of Walter F. Stocks for 'the vacant professorship of landscape painting in Queen's College'. Stocks 'has been an exhibitor at the Royal Academy for many years' and Calderon 'has admired his paintings on our walls'.

On piece of aged, laid paper roughly six inches by eight and a quarter wide. Two inch closed tear at head, and three-quarters of an inch closed tear, with a little loss, to the right. Quarter-inch hole towards top right-hand corner, in sky above archway. Mounted on piece of grey paper. Negligible wear to bottom left-hand corner.

On India paper roughly three and a half inches by six and a half wide, mounted on a thick piece of wove paper ten inches by fourteen and a half. Cooke's name is engraved on the illustration, and printed on the mount are the title, Lewis's name and a double ruled border. Good clear impression. The mount is a tad grubby, with foxing to the extremities. Atmospheric representation of a populated pier snaking to the left, with a number of sailing ships and a row boat taking advantage of the low tide nearby. No reference found.