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24 Original Character Studies from "The Pickwick Papers"
A Unique Volume of Original Dickens Artwork
By The Artful "Kyd"
KYD (pseudonym of Joseph Clayton Clarke), artist. [DICKENS, Charles]. 24 Original Character Studies from "The Pickwick Papers." Drawn in colors by 'Kyd' "Portsmouth" Series. [N.p.: n.d., ca. 1910].
Manuscript title and twenty-four original pen, ink and watercolor drawings (each 11 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches; 286 x 223 mm.), each on fine laid paper with full backgrounds, ink ruled borders, and signed by the artist. Chemised in a quarter morocco clamshell case.
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.
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.
"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 periodHe 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).
"The vast majority of 'Kyd's' works offered for sale today are single character studies. Some of these are mistakenly taken for hand-colored lithographsAs a general rule, the lithographs are on inferior paper and do not possess ink ruled borders. Far more rare are character studies with backgrounds" (Ibid., p. 8).
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. Pickwick
No. 2. Mr. Snodgrass
No. 3. Mr. Winkle
No. 4. Mr. Tupman
No. 5. Alfred Jingle Esq
No. 6. Dismal Jimmy
No. 7. Job Trotter
No. 8. Mr. Pott
No. 9. Sam Weller
No. 10. Tony Weller
No. 11. Old Wardle
No. 12. The Fat Boy
No. 13. Mrs. Bardell
No. 14. Tommy Bardell
No. 15. Bob Sawyer
No. 16. Ben Allen
No. 17. Sergt. Buzfuz
No. 18. Mr. Dodson
No. 19. Mr. Fogg
No. 20. The Chancery Prisoner
No. 21. Mr. John Smauker
No. 22. The Mottled-faced Coachman
No. 23. Mrs. Cluppins
No. 24. Mr. Stiggins
Price: $4,500
(To order this item, or for more information, please call 818-222-4103)
