MARCUS

Neither print is ascribed, but in an unpublished typescript in the Adams Papers, Rosalind Thuillier (author of a 1985 monograph on Adams) quotes her husband Gilbert Adams (Marcus's son) as follows: 'Another phase of his activities as a photographer was into a device called "photo sculpture". [...] At the time of Munich he went round to the photo-sculpture's studio, and I accompanied him, to photograph Neville Chamberlain. Neville Chamberlain was photographed in this way and some many hundreds of these casts were made of 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'.

Both letters 2pp., 12mo. Both in good condition, lightly-aged, the second with the first page lightly crossed through in pencil. The letters relate to work done for the firm of her brother-in-law Marcus Adams (described in his Times obituary as 'the outstanding child photographer of his day and photographer to the Royal Family for more than 30 years'), at 43 Dover Street, Mayfair. She begins the first letter by explaining that she has 'endeavoured to make the Woodall miniature like the snapshot, but unless they are really satisfied I had better do another.

11pp., 4to. Five are signed by Gustave Tuck, three by Desmond A. Tuck and one by Sir Reginald Tuck (the three men being named on the letterhead, together with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as the company's directors). Four are addressed to Adams personally, four to his firm (with one for the attention of 'Miss Dorothy Clarke'), and one to Bertram Adams, another royal photographer, with whom Adams shared premises at 43 Dover Street, Mayfair. The ornate letterhead, printed in brown, carries royal warrants and an engraving of Raphael House. On aged and worn paper, with slight damp staining.

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Ornate letterhead printed in red and black, with engraving of a rising sun ('The Mark of Excellence'). Addressed to 'Messrs. Marcus Adams Ltd. | Child Photographers, | 43, Dover Street, | W.1.' The letter begins: 'I have in hand the production of a film somewhat of a national character, including all the episodes in the reigns of our Royal Family, from Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee onwards, and I thought it would be a very nice idea to finish the film with a short length of little Princess Elizabeth.

Thirteen Typed Letters Signed: seven to Marcus Adams, four to Gilbert Adams, and one apiece to 'Miss Farr' and 'Mr Murray'. Totalling 16pp., and with eight on Dover Street letterheads, and five on Park's personal Pinner letterheads. Five signed 'Bertram', one 'B.P.'', the other seven 'Bertram Park'. The thirteen items in good condition, with light signs of age and wear.

4pp., 8vo, paginated 1-4. On two bifoliums. Aged and worn, but with the text clear and complete. From the Adams family papers, which also include an extensive archive of Walton Adams's papers relating to the British Israelites. An interesting artefact relating to an important figure in the history of British photography. (See also his obituary in The Times, 15 June 1934.) Untitled and unsigned, the unpublished account begins: 'As I am now over 90 years of age I believe that I am the oldest living British photographer, my first Studio was opened in 1864'.

On 6.75 x 10.25 cm card. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Crane's illustration is printed in gold, blue, red, pink and brown, with the caption at foot, encased in a characteristic decorative border reading 'MAY NEW YEAR BRING FROM LOVERS TRUE | LOTS OF VALENTINES FOR YOU!' A winged Cupid in doorway to the right, dressed in blue cap and suit with knickerbockers and red stockings, delivers letters to three girls and a baby in a bath chair. Outside the border, at foot: 'ENT STA HALL MARCUS WARD & CO.' Printed in lilac on reverse is the poem by 'W. J.

Landscape, on one side of a piece of thick paper 24 x 30.5 cm. The print itself is 22 x 27.5 cm. The print is clear and entire on lightly-aged paper, with wear to extremities and some repair to reverse, to which a tissue guard has been attached. Enclosed within a decorative border of birds and flowers printed in burgundy, brown and gold, is a delicate illustration (9 x 15 cm), somewhat akin to a Baxter print, showing a sylvan scene with two young lovers in seventeenth-century attire.

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 24 x 14.5 cm. With card backing. Good, though lightly aged. Headed by the Royal warrant, the top-half of the handbill features, in a variety of types and point sizes, the announcement of Tuck and Sons' intention to award 'Upwards of 4,000 prizes, of the value of 3,000 guineas, and a number of judges' diplomas', with Besant and Stone as judges. The lower part has two columns featuring fifteen testimonials, by newspapers ranging from 'Windsor and Eton Gazette' to the 'Sheffield Telegraph'.