Royalty, Romantics and Pre-Raphaelites

[British artists and politicians]. Two volumes of letters, documents and signatures.

€ 8.500,00

A collection of letters, documents and signatures of British royalty, politicians and artists of the nineteenth century and sometimes earlier, in two volumes: one devoted to political, the other to literary and artistic figures. The latter volume features autograph letters signed by, among others, the poet Robert Browning, the critic John Ruskin, and painters of the Pre-Raphaelite school, including Sir Edward Burne-Jones and John Everett Millais. Many of the letters are addressed to the poet and critic John Gray (1866-1934).

It is to Gray that Robert Browning (8vo [115 x 180 mm], 2 pp. on bifolium) writes on 12 August 1876, concerning his critics: "I had a moment's amusement with, this Mayday, for the first time, and last, probably [...] by informing my 'castigator' what he might expect if he (still within a figure of speech) ventured within boots' reach of one whom, in reality, he never saw nor is likely to see". There is also a complete autograph sonnet by Michael Field (a pseudonym shared by two friends of Browning's, the poets Katherine Harris Bradley and Edith Emma Cooper), entitled "Stonehenge", dated March 1894 (4to [185 x 260 mm], 1 p.: "That sudden, awful temple of the plain [...]"). In an autograph letter (9 Feb. 1881, 8vo [110 x 180 mm], 2 pp.) the critic John Ruskin discusses music: "I believe all true music describable in a very short sentence: Awake up, my glory; awake Lute and Harp, I myself will awake right early" (Psalm 57:8).

The Pre-Raphaelites are represented by the painters Ford Madox Brown (autograph letter signed, 8vo [110 x 180 mm], 4 pp., dated 24 Nov. 1887), Edward Burne-Jones (autograph postcard signed [125 x 80 mm], 1 p., and autograph letter signed, 8vo [100 x 155 mm], 2 pp. on bifolium, dated 22 Feb. 1886) and John Everett Millais (autograph letter signed, 8vo [120 x 180 mm], 1 p. on bifolium, dated 24 Feb. 1886).

The earliest items in the collection are a clipped signature of Charles I (dated 1642, 150 x 25 mm) and part of a document dated 18 November 1698 signed by the Earl of Marchmont, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and other Scottish nobles (180 x 205 mm, trimmed). From the eighteenth century there is a letter on the provision of the Channel Islands from 1778, signed by George III and his Prime Minister, Lord North (240 x 360 mm, split). Most of the items are from the nineteenth century, such as a letter of George IV as Prince Regent, autographing a letter to the Bishop of London on collections for the poor on 14 January 1820 (4to [200 x 315 mm], 2 pp. on bifolium). Other notable political figures included in this collection are clipped signatures of William IV (110 x 67), the Duke of Wellington (120 x 70 mm) and Lord Palmerson (65 x 20 mm).

The bulk of the political content consists of letters to its compiler, Sir James Balfour Paul (1846-1931), whose bookplate is in both volumes. As Lord Lyon King of Arms, Sir James was responsible for the official heraldry of Scotland from 1890 to 1926, in which context he had access to prominent personages and documents pertaining to the nobility. A loose letter from the novelist John Buchan (dated 30th Jan. 1920, 4to [210 x 260 mm]) enclosed in one volume seemingly to be included later gives us an indication of when Balfour Paul stopped curating the collection. This was a task to which he clearly devoted a good deal of his time, furnishing both volumes with an index, which furthermore allows us to ascertain that although some items listed have gone missing, the collection remains essentially intact.

The range of material to which Balfour Paul had access was extremely varied, making this collection both very individual in the pieces it preserves while also representative of the interests and contacts of the British aristocracy and artistic circles from the Victorian era through the early twentieth century. A cross-section of British political and cultural life.