Art and Architecture

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Five black and white photographs of a glass goblet ornately etched by Whistler for Mark Bonham Carter.

Author: 
Laurence Whistler
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but 1946-7.
£135.00

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.

Photograph of Gadshill Place.

Author: 
Charles Dickens [VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHY; EPHEMERA]
Publication details: 
Undated, but certainly nineteenth-century.
£80.00

Gadshill was purchased by Dickens for £1770 in 1857, and remained his home for the rest of his life. Dimensions of photograph approximately six inches by four. Sepia. In good condition, with one tiny closed tear and minor creasing to two corners. Shot from the front lawn and showing the front of house, with extension and part of conservatory to its right.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Philip Hardwick, William Behnes, Thomas Bellamy and Samuel Angell
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£30.00

Hardwick (1792-1870), English architect; Behnes (1791-1864), English sculptor; Angell (1800-66), English artist. On piece of paper roughly four inches square. In good condition. Reads '<...> | Philip Hardwick | Russell Square | William Behnes | Thos: Bellamy | Saml Angell'.

Typed Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Arthur Joseph Davis [ARCHITECTURE]
Publication details: 
15 July 1925; on letterhead of Mewes & Davis, Architects, 22 Conduit Street, W.1.
£56.00

English architect (1878-1951) whose firm's commissions include the Ritz Hotel in London, the country houses Luton Hoo, Coombe Court and Polesden Lacey, and the ocean liners Aquitania and Queen Mary. One page, folio. Very good. Docketed and carrying the Society's stamp. He has 'called on Sir Charles Allom with regard to the judgment of the designs which you showed me yesterday', and they agree that 'only two of the selected schemes should be rewarded.

Four Typed Letters Signed, one Autograph Letter Signed, and one Autograph Note Signed, to (successively) Menzies, Perry and Luckhurst, Secretaries, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Thomas Cantrell Dugdale
Publication details: 
1925 to 1938.
£120.00

English painter (1880-1952) and member of the International Socialist Organization. All items in good condition, though variously grubby or discoloured with age, lightly creased or with pin holes to corners. All items signed either 'T C Dugdale' or 'T. C. Dugdale'. Several items docketed and/or bearing the Society's stamp. LETTER ONE (typed, 23 June 1925, one page, 12mo, on letterhead '9 AVENUE STUDIOS, 76 FULHAM ROAD, LONDON, S.W.3.'): He hopes to 'be able to accept your invitation to act as Judge in the same section as last year'. Asks for the date.

Carte de visite studio portrait photograph.

Author: 
Charles Dickens [studio photograph by Rockwood of New York]
Publication details: 
Undated, but 1867/8; 'ROCKWOOD | PHOTOGRAPHER | 17 UNION SQUARE (West) | N.Y.'
£250.00

Presumably taken on Dickens's second reading tour of the United States. Roughly 2 1/4 by 3 3/4 inches. Slightly faded, but a good, clear image, though somewhat grubby and with minor ink spotting, mainly around the subject's arms. Mounted on photographer's card, which has on reverse charming illustration of cherub with palette in hand sitting on book and painting the photographer's details onto board on easel. Traces of previous black-paper mount adhering to reverse (not affecting image), which is docketed in pencil.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'T. W. Winstanley Esq | Secretary | Royal Manchester Institution | Manchester'.

Author: 
John G. Hankes [T. W. Winstanley; Royal Manchester Institution]
Publication details: 
4 August 1840. '24 Carburton St. | Fitzroy Square. | London. | or | Great Clowes St. | Upper Broughton, | Manchester.'
£28.00

Minor English artist who (according to docketed note) exhibited between 1838 and 1859. One page, 12mo. Very good, though somewhat grubby. Reads '226 I have the honour to send 1 picture for the ensuing exhibition at the Manchester Royal Institution, entitled "The new acquaintance" vide The Vicar of Wakefield | Price with frame 34 gs. | [Price] without [frame] 30 [gs.] | Signed 'Jno. G Hankes'. Second leaf of bifoliate addressed, and with top corner cut away and present beneath black wax seal, which bears the smudged impression of a crest.

Autograph Letter Signed to "Mr Marks".

Author: 
John Adams-Acton
Publication details: 
8 Langford Place, NW, [11?] June 1897.
£85.00

Or John Adams Acton (DNB). Sculptor. Three pages, 8vo, some staining but mainly good condition.

Catalogue & Supplement 5,800 named and dated silhouette portraits by August Edouard 1789-1861. Silhouettist to the Royal Family of France and to H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester' and 'Catalogue of 3,800 [...] American silhouette portraits' by Edouart.

Author: 
Mrs F. Nevill Jackson [Augustin Amant Constant Fidèle Edouart; SILHOUETTE PORTRAITS]
Publication details: 
ITEM ONE (5,800 portraits): 'HARDING & CURTIS, LTD., BATH.' [1914]; ITEM TWO (3,800 American portraits): 'WAKEHAM, TYP., KENSINGTON.' [circa 1925].
£120.00

ITEM ONE: 56 pages, octavo. In original orange printed wraps. Poor, on cheap paper discoloured with age, and with damage and loss to wraps. PRESENTATION COPY to 'Mr. Joseph Ceci'. ITEM TWO: 32 pages, octavo. In original green printed wraps. Poor, on even cheaper paper fraying at extremities, but without loss to text. Both items with Mrs Jackson's address on front wrap amended in her hand. Both items poorly repaired with tape. Two items,

Typed Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies[, Secretary], Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Robert Atkinson
Publication details: 
24 November 1932; on letterhead '126 WIGMORE STREET | W.I'.
£38.00

British architect (1883-1952) who worked on 'the Bath Improvement Scheme, Saint Catherine's Church, Hammersmith, W., The Regent Theatre, Brighton, The Picture House, Edinburgh, Gresham Hotel, Dublin, and many private and other works' (Who's Who). One page, quarto. Very good. Docketed and bearing R.S.A. stamp. Headed 're Architectural Decoration Committee'. He assumes that 'the Agenda of a meeting of your Committee on the 30th November at 4 p.m.' has been sent to him in error, as he has written a letter declining the invitation to serve on it.

Five Typed Letters Signed, and one letter in a secretarial hand signed in autograph, to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Rev. Allan Gairdner Wyon
Publication details: 
1916 to 1925; on letterhead '80, Boundary Road, | St. John's Wood, | London, N.W.'
£180.00

British sculptor (1882-1962) and 'MEDALLIST AND ENGRAVER | TO | HIS MAJESTY THE KING' (as per letterhead). All six items one page, quarto. All six signed 'Allan G. Wyon'. Five bearing the R.S.A. stamp and two docketed. All six very good though dusty (but see secretarial item below). ITEMS ONE (19 October 1916, typed) and TWO (21 October 1916, typed) discuss the practicalities and cost of repairing the R.S.A. 'broken Seal Press'.

Two Typed Letters Signed to [G. K.] Menzies[, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Clyde Young
Publication details: 
21 November 1934 and 21 June 1935, both on letterhead '6, NEW SQUARE, | LINCOLN'S INN, W.C.2.'
£56.00

British architect (born circa 1872), the son of Sir William Young (1843-1900), whose most important commission, the War Office, Whitehall (1900-1906) he completed. Both items one page, octavo, and very good, though on slightly discoloured and creased paper, one piece bearing pin holes and the other paperclip marks. Both items docketed and one bearing the Society's stamp. ITEM ONE: 'You will be interested to see the enclosed copy of Lord Iveagh's reply.

Typed Note Signed to the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Guy Morgan
Publication details: 
10 May 1966; on letterhead '12A, EATON SQUARE, | LONDON, S.W.1'.
£25.00

Architect, town planner and foxhunter (born 1902). One page, quarto. Very good, with staple holes to top left-hand corner. Docketed in pencil. He has 'just returned from a trip in Egypt, conducted by Leonard Cotterell'. 'It occurred to me that it would be a good idea for him to give a lecture at the Royal Society'.

Typed Note Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Herbert Cecil Ferraby [ADVERTISING; POSTER ART]
Publication details: 
18 November 1927; on letterhead of the Advertiser's Weekly ('THE ORGAN OF BRITISH ADVERTISING').
£28.00

Naval author and journalist (died 1942). One page, quarto. Discoloured with age and with a few closed tears but in good condition overall. Docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. 'I should be obliged if you could let me have copies of any promotion matter which you have put out in recent years for the purpose of attracting artists to enter competitions for poster designs.' Signed 'H. C. Ferraby' ('EDITOR').

One Autograph Letter Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to W. Perry, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Leigh Bolland Ashton [Leigh Ashton]
Publication details: 
Typed letter: 19 November 1930; autograph letter, no date; both items on (different) Victoria & Albert Museum letterheads.
£75.00

Director (1897-1983) and Secretary, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1945-55. Both items one page, quarto. Both in very good condition. Typed letter bearing R.S.A. stamp. Both items concerning a projected lecture. TYPED LETTER: Perry will have a typescript by the end of the month, 'but as a good dea of my lecture is extempore you may find it rather shorter than you had anticipated. The written part will be roughly two thousand words.' Signed Leigh Ashton'. AUTOGRAPH LETTER: Perry will 'have to be content with the length of M.S. I send in. It may possibly run to 3000 but not more.

Two Typed Letters Signed to G. E. Mercer, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, concerning his award of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship; with seven associated items (draft replies, memo, programme, etc).

Author: 
Edward David Mills
Publication details: 
1969
£156.00

Architect (1915-98), designer of the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. All items very good. ITEM ONE (one page, folio): typed copy of Mills' 'programme' ('The object of the proposed research is to study at first hand the effect of these new techniques on building types in the United States [...]'.). ITEM TWO (one page, quarto, typed): letter by Mills dated 3 March 1969. Congratulates the Society on 'the new appearance of the R.S.A. Journal which is an enormous improvement on the past'. Explains that he has been awarded the Fellowship and encloses copy of programme.

The Touchstone of Architecture.

Author: 
Sir Reginald Blomfield
Publication details: 
Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1925.
£35.00

Pages: viii + 245. No jacket. Spine somewhat grubby, but good tight copy of attractively printed book. One inch closed tear to half-title. Collection of eleven essays 'approached from the point of view of architecture', including 'State-aided Training in Art in England', 'Atavism in Art', 'The Artist and the Community', 'Christopher Wren' and 'The Bridges of London (1815-1920).

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Sir Henry T[rueman]. Wood, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Alexander Joseph Finberg [THE WALPOLE SOCIETY]
Publication details: 
23 and 27 January 1917; both on Walpole Society letterhead.
£85.00

British art historian (1866-1939) whose papers are now in the Courtauld Institute, London; Turner specialist and founder of the Walpole Society. Both items one page, quarto, very good. Both docketed and bearing the Society's stamp, and signed 'A. J. Finberg'. First letter enquires whether 'a full list of the recipients of [the Society's awards] has been published, or whether the materials for the compilation of such a list are in existence & are accessible to research'.

Autograph Note Signed [to Secretary, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Reginald Barratt
Publication details: 
17 February 1913; on embossed letterhead of the Athenaeum, Pall Mall.
£26.00

English artist (1861-1917). One page, octavo. Very good, though slightly discoloured at foot. Stamped and docketed. 'Enclosed letter [not present] for Mr. G. Havell, has been sent me to forward. I cannot find his address. | Would you kindly forward it if his address is in yr books (Indian section) if not, kindly return it to me here.' Signed 'Reginald Barratt'.

Coloured advertisement for Swan Vesta matches, in the form of a pastiche of a London Underground sign.

Author: 
Advertising artwork [ LONDON UNDERGROUND; SWAN VESTA; TOBACCO; SMOKING]
Publication details: 
Without date or place [1920s or 30s?].
£75.00

Attractive illustration, in red, green, yellow and black, on piece of white card roughly nine and three-quarter inches by six and a quarter, neatly mounted on piece of black card roughly ten and a quarter inches by seven and three-quarters. At head a parody of the London Underground black rectangle over red circle, roughly six and a half inches by three and a quarter, bearing the notice 'ALIGHT HERE' in white letters. Beneath this the words 'FOR EVERY SMOKER.', with a red arrow at foot pointing to a box of Swan Vesta matches. Very good, though lightly foxed.

Two Typed Letters Signed, with Typed Note, to ['Luckhurst',] the Secretary, The Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Dorothy Anna Hayward Mills
Publication details: 
The two letters, 30 December 1938 and 12 June 1939; the note docketed 31 March 1938. All three items from 'Glenview', Harp Hill, Battledown, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
£45.00

Children's writer, poet and illustrator. All three items one page, quarto. All in good condition, with minimal staining. All three docketed, and the two letters signed 'Dorothy AH. Mills. F.R.S.A.' LETTER ONE: She enjoyed a 'magnificent' item by F. T. Blanchard in the Society's magazine 'immensely': 'it contained what it seems to me we have lost in England, in the appreciation of Letters, - namely, spirituality and idealism, and the Divine plan in the life of the individual.

Autograph Letter Signed to J. Samson, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society of Arts; together with carbon copy of the letter to which it is a reply.

Author: 
Sir Lawrence Gowing
Publication details: 
The letter 27 November 1962, on letterhead '17 PERCY STREET LONDON W1'; the carbon copy 15 November 1962.
£38.00

Painter and art historian (1918-91). The two items are both very good, attached to one another by a staple in a corner. The copy of Samson's letter (one page quarto, very good, on yellow paper) explains that the Society is 'endeavouring to arrange a course of three Cantor Lectures next Spring on modern philosophies - art, architecture and music', and invites him to deliver the first of these. Gives details of the fee, dates, etc. Gowing's letter: one page, octavo. 'I am honoured by your invitation to give the first of the Cantor Lectures next year. But I must refuse it - I'm very sorry.

Two Autograph Postcards Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, [Secretary,] The Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Wyke Bayliss
Publication details: 
19 and 21 January 1893, '7 North Road | Clapham Park'.
£32.00

Artist and art historian (1835-1906), President of the Royal Society of British Artists. Both items very good, if somewhat grubby, and both stamped and docketed, and signed 'Wyke Bayliss'. Both postcards with postmark over printed stamp. POSTCARD ONE: 'I was dining last night with Dr Richardson and he said he should be glad if you could let him have some more cards of invitation for my lecture on the 25th. May I ask you (if you think proper) to send them a dozen, in addition to htose you have already sent.' POSTCARD TWO: 'I send by this post the MS of my paper, for the printer.

Typed Note Signed to Sir Harry Lindsay, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Thomas Sherrer Ross Boase
Publication details: 
28 November 1947; on letterhead of Magdalen College, Oxford.
£32.00

English mediaeval and art historian (1898-1974), Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art. One page, landscape octavo. Good, but with one corner creased and grubby, and with staple holes in another. 'I should be much honoured to be nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and should much appreciate association with that body and all the work it does.' Signed 'T. S. R. Boase.'

Two Autograph Letters Signed and four Typed Letters Signed, two to W. Perry, three to the Secretary and one to the Vice President of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Honourable Josiah Wedgwood
Publication details: 
First three (all typed): 14 November, 16 and 18 December 1935, all on Wedgwood letterhead; fourth and fifth (both autograph), 13 and 18 February 1936, on letterhead 'STOKE GRANGE.STONE.STAFFS'; the sixth (typed), 1 May 1836, on Wedgwood letterhead.
£250.00

Managing Director of the famous pottery business ('saviour of the firm') and the fifth in the family to bear the name (1899-1968), Member of Parliament. All six items in good condition, though grubby, and with the first three bearing pin holes in one corner (not affecting text), the hole in the first letter being decidedly marked. All but one item docketed and stamped. Letters one, two, three and six are one page, quarto; letter four, two pages, 12mo; letter five, one page, 12mo; letter six, one page, quarto. All but the third item, which is signed 'Wedgwood', are signed 'Josiah Wedgwood'.

Typed Note Signed to G. K. Menzies, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Reginald Blomfield
Publication details: 
16 November 1927; on letterhead of Sir Reginald Blomfield and Son, 1, New Court, Temple, E.C.4.
£32.00

British architect and art historian (1856-1942), a leading figure of the Imperial War Graves Commission and designer of the Menin Gate at Ypres. One page, quarto. Good, with a few minor stains. 'I fully concur in the regulation proposed for the Art Studentship Scholarship, and am glad this is now settled.' Signed 'Reginald Blomfield'

On the earliest specimens of mezzotinto engraving. In a letter to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., F.R.S., &c.

Author: 
Hugh W[elch]. Diamond, F.S.A.
Publication details: 
London: 1838 ['J. B. Nichols and son, 25, Parliament-street.'].
£125.00

PRESENTATION COPY of offprint 'FROM THE | ARCHAEOLOGIA, | VOL. XXVII. p. 405-409.' Four leaves, 8 pages, 4to. In good condition, although grubby and worn and with creasing to inner edge. Presentation inscription to top right-hand corner of title. Disbound: paginated in manuscript and with slight offsetting to verso of last leaf. No copy of this offprint in the British Library. The author Dr Hugh Welch Diamond (1809-86) was editor of the photographic journal, and a pioneer of psychiatric photography.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
George Kirkley [Royal Academy of Art]
Publication details: 
Undated.
£22.00

Dimensions. Paper stained, discoloured and ruckled. Trimmed and mounted on a piece of brown paper. Reads 'Shall feel extreemly [sic] obliged if you will have the goodness to allow the Landscape on Copper sent to be placed on the Walls for the ensuing Exhibition at the Royal Academy has [sic] it will confer an obligation on | Sir/ | Your Most Obedient | Servant | G Kirkley | Landscape on Copper | George Kirkley | No. 3 Gilhams Fields | Worship Street'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Campbell Dodgson
Publication details: 
23 January 1929; on letterhead of the Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum.
£100.00

Art historian (1867-1948) and Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, 1912-32. Four pages, 12mo. Good, but somewhat grubby with a few small stains. Interesting, and characteristically subtle solicitation. He has been examining the book of drawings his correspondent sent the previous week, but is unable to say who formed the collection: 'my colleagues in the library cannot tell anything from the elephant stamped on the binding'. 'The little drawings are mostly old but not of any great merit'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs Middleton Walker'.

Author: 
Constance Williams
Publication details: 
No date (but docketed 'probably 1886'); '1, Campden House | W.'
£23.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good. She is sorry that her correspondent should have 'taken the trouble to call twice & have found me out, but I am working at the school just now, & am very not returning as a rule until the evening | So I trust you will excuse my calling with kind regards to yourself & Mr. Middleton Walker'. Signed 'Constance Williams' and docketed in pencil, 'a very clever sculptor in wood'. Not traced.

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