[84 Original Character Studies from "The Pickwick Papers"]

Pickwick Characters in Watercolor by "Kyd"

KYD (pseudonym of Joseph Clayton Clarke), artist. [DICKENS, Charles]. 84 Original Character Studies from "The Pickwick Papers." Drawn in colors by "Kyd."] [N.p.: n.d., ca. 1910].

Eighty-four original drawings of which 48 are pen, ink and watercolor drawings (each 11 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches; 290 x 217 mm.) and 36 are pure watercolors.

Contemporary three quarter crimson morocco. Five raised bands. Six gilt ruled, ornamented and lettered compartments. Hinges expertly and near invisibly restored, otherwise fine.

Joseph Clayton Clark (1856-1937) worked as a freelance artist with a particular affection for Dickens, his Dickens illustrations first appearing in 1887 in Fleet Street Magazine, with two collections soon to follow: The Characters of Charles Dickens (1889) and Some Well Known Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens (1892). In the first decade of the twentieth century, five sets of postcards based on his Dickens drawings were published, and seven sets of non-Dickensian comic cards by him were issued. Beginning in the 1920s, he earned his living from watercolor sketches, mainly of Dickens' characters, which he sold to and through the London book trade. Frederic G. Kitton gives him early notice in his classic text, Dickens and His Illustrators (1890); Kyd's watercolors were at that date already being avidly bought by major Dickens collectors (Kitton, p. 233), the Cosens sale in 1890 successfully selling a collection of 241 of Kyd's Dickens watercolors, and Mr. Tom Wilson, at the time the foremost collector of Dickens, possessing 331 of Kyd's drawings.

"As a character 'Kyd' emulated those of Dickens and his own illustrations - slightly larger than life. In his style and dress he was mildly flamboyant for the period�He seldom varied his attire from a grey suit, spats, homburg hat, gloves and was never without a carnation or substitute flower in his button hole" (Sawyer, Richard. "Kyd" (Joseph Clayton Clark): A Preliminary Study of his Life and Work Together with an Essay on Fore-Edge Paintings, 1980. p. 7).

In 1910, the approximate date of the character studies under notice, the British Museum acquired a collection of 598 drawings and paintings of the artist's Dickens work, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, Dickens House in London, and the University of Texas at Austin each have significant collections of Kyd's Dickens illustrations.

A superb, singular and most desirable collection of Dickensiana. Unique and scarce.

The characters from The Pickwick Papers that Kyd has so vividly brought to life are:

No. 1. Mr. Justice Stareleigh
No. 2. Sergt. Snubbin
No. 3. Sergt. Buzfuz
No. 4. Mr. Fogg
No. 5. Mr. Dodson
No. 6. Tommy Bardell
No. 7. Mr. Stiggins
No. 8. The Fat Boy
No. 9. Mr. Cluppins
No. 10. Dismal Jemmy
No. 11. Job Trotter
No. 12. Tony Weller
No. 13. Sam Weller
No. 14. Alfred Jingle Esqr.
No. 15. Mr. Winkle
No. 16. Mr. Pickwick
No. 17. Old Wardle
No. 18. Mr. Pott
No. 19. Bob Sawyer
No. 20. Mr. Tupman
No. 21. Mr. Snodgrass
No. 22. Mr. Perker
No. 23. Dumkins
No. 24. Luffey
No. 25. The Madman (w/color)
No. 26. The Mottled Faced Coachman (w/color)
No. 27. Cobbler of the Fleet (w/color)
No. 28. Blazo ? (w/color)
No. 29. Sam Weller (w/color)
No. 30. Mr. Wardle (w/color)
No. 31. Job Trotter (w/color)
No. 32. The Elder Weller (w/color)
No. 33. Mr. Tupman (w/color)
No. 34. Mr. Stiggins (w/color)
No. 35. Dr. Slammer (w/color)
No. 36. Mr. Smangle (w/color)
No. 37. Bob Sawyer (w/color)
No. 38. Mr. Snodgrass (w/color)
No. 39. Mr. Pickwick (w/color)
No. 40. Mr. Pott (w/color)
No. 41. Mr. Perker (w/color)
No. 42. Peter Magnus (w/color)
No. 43. Mr. Jingle (w/color)
No. 44. Mr. Mivins (w/color)
No. 45. The Fat Boy (w/color)
No. 46. Dismal Jemmy (w/color)
No. 47. The Chancery Prisoner (w/color)
No. 48. Ben Allen (w/color)
No. 49. Mrs. Bardell (w/color)
No. 50. Mrs. Cluppins (w/color)
No. 51. Mrs. Leo Hunter (w/color)
No. 52. Mrs. Sanders (w/color)
No. 53. Mr. John Smauker (w/color)
No. 54. Solomon Pell (w/color)
No. 55. Mr. Dowler (w/color)
No. 56. Tommy Bardell (w/color)
No. 57. Capt. Boldwig (w/color)
No. 58. Cyrus Angelo Bantam (w/color)
No. 59. Sergt. Buzfuz (w/color)
No. 60. Mr. Winkle (w/color)
No. 61. Mr. Pickwick
No. 62. Old Wardle
No. 63. Mr. Winkle
No. 64. Mr. Jingle
No. 65. Sam Weller
No. 66. Tony Weller
No. 67. Job Trotter
No. 68. Dismal Jemmy
No. 69. Mr. Dodson
No. 70. Mr. Fogg
No. 71. Mrs. Cluppins
No. 72. Sergt. Buzfuz
No. 73. The Fat Boy
No. 74. Mr. Stiggins
No. 75. Tommy Bardell
No. 76. The Mottled-faced Coachman
No. 77. Mr. John Smauker
No. 78. The Chancery Prisoner
No. 79. Ben Allen
No. 80. Bob Sawyer
No. 81. Mrs. Bardello
No. 82. Mr. Pott
No. 83. Mr. Snodgrass
No. 84. Mr. Tupman

Price: $0

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