The original metal plates for 102 engravings by Thomas Downey, caricatures of leading English theatrical figures

The original metal plates for 102 engravings by Thomas Downey, caricatures of leading English theatrical figures, including Mrs Patrick Campbell, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, George Robey, George Alexander and Marie Tempest, in performances on the London stage between 1913 and 1917.A friend of the artist Alfred Bryan (1852-1899), Downey was active from the late 1890s (when he contributed to J. K. Jerome's Idler magazine) to the 1930s. Like Bryan he specialised in sketches and caricatures of leading figures in the London worlds of theatre and dance, contributing illustrations to a number of periodicals including the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News and the Sketch. Downey was an active member of the London Sketch Club (other members of which included Edmund Dulac, John Hassall, Cecil Aldin and Arthur Conan Doyle) from its inception in 1898. His design "Sketchers Past and Present" (including portraits of members Frith, Ruskin, Whistler and Du Maurier) featured on the Club's invitation for April 15 1921. He is included in Phil May's portrait of members, painted in 1921, a print of which is in the National Portrait Gallery. As evidenced by those listed here, Downey's elegant and witty caricatures are very much of their period, exhibiting the strong line and confident detail of an excellent draftsman.These items were presumably executed for publication in the Illustrated London News or the Sketch, as several of the engravings are grouped together and wrapped in packets made from addressed brown paper wrappers for one or the other of those two sister publications (both located at 172 Strand). He also contributed to The Bystander.The illustrations are undoubtedly all by Downey, as all are in the same style and some contain his signature as part of the design. One plate is wrapped in paper carrying very crude sketches in pencil.All the plates are in good condition, with occasional minor discoloration and pitting. Ranging in size, but most around 12 x 8 cm. Full details of contents of packages available, but first as follows: "- packet of 7 in copper, dated 5 April 1913: 'Eliza comes to stay' (Diana Cortis, Carlotta Addison, Eva Moore, Eric Lewis, H. V. Esmond, Fred Grove, Charles Esdaile)."