Lot 42
Alexander, Sir James Edward (1803-1885)
Sketchbooks of travels in Canada & the United States, 1845-55
Auction: The Library of General Sir James Alexander | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 31 to 62
Description
1) Oblong 8vo (13 x 20.5cm), black half roan, marbled sides, 32 ff., with sketches to recto of each leaf (3 in pencil, the rest in pen and ink, a few of which with added grey wash), a few sketches to versos, including for a double-page pen, ink and wash panorama of Mont Orford, Eastern Townships (Quebec), the remaining sketches including views (2 of Lake Memphremagog, Quebec; ‘Scene in Vermont whilst changing horses, Augt 1845’; homestead in New Hampshire; several Scottish views and scenes including Dunoon, Stirling, the Clyde, interview with James Alexander of Dollar, i.e. James Edward Alexander’s rival claimant to the earldom of Stirling, a tournament at Stirling), local characters (‘Yankee boy & child, Massachusetts), scenes aboard the RMS Britannia, etc., with ownership inscription (‘Sir J. E. Alexander, 1845, Royal Eng[ineers] Office’) to front endpaper;
2) Oblong 4to (18.8 x 23.5cm), red roan backing marbled boards, 36 ff., with sketches throughout (to rectos and several versos), including 2 watercolours (proposed military uniforms; martello tower at Kingston, Ontario), the rest in pen and black or sepia ink (these often with pencil or grey wash), or pencil, manuscript captions throughout (with dates from 1851 to 1853, many with Alexander’s initials ‘J. E. A.’), the subjects including Quebec scenes and views (Mount Johnston, now Mont-Saint-Grégoire; Shawinagan Falls; view from Mount Montreal with two figures in foreground, captioned ‘Lord Mark Kerr’, sketching, and ‘Lutyens’, climbing a tree; ‘Where the great fire of July 1852 began, Montreal’, showing a gutted building with signage reading ‘Cheap Bread Company’ against a background of ruins; ‘Scene of the Gavazzi Riot, Montreal’; Montmorency Falls; ‘Mrs Rowan’s Seat at Bonenfants Cacouna’; ‘Lac St Simon, 12th Augt 1854, returning from fishing with Judge Meredith’), further North American views including Lyon Mountain (Lake Chateauguay, New York), Mount Washington (evidently that in New Hampshire), a homestead near Waterloo (modern Ontario), 3 double-page Scottish views (Stirling from Alexander’s seat at Westerton; Schiehallion; Loch Rannoch), further Scottish views including the Falls of Bruar, and other scenes including ‘American off-hand rifle practice’, etc.;
3) Oblong 4to (17 x 24cm), black roan backing marbled boards, 26 ff., with sketches throughout (all to rectos apart from one double-page view), 2 in pencil, the rest in pen and ink (most with additional grey wash or grey or coloured pencil), manuscript captions throughout (dated 1852-5), ownership inscription ‘Sir James E. Alexander, 14 Regt’ to front free endpaper, subjects including views of New York State (Port Lafayette; Fort Hamilton; Lake George), Beloeil Lake (Quebec), Penetanguishene (modern Ontario), Bruce Mines and Shebanoning on Lake Huron, Mackinaw and Fort Mackinaw on Lake Michigan, Sault Ste Marie on Lake Superior, etc., the second of the album depicting Alexander’s voyage to the Crimea, 1855, including coastal views of ‘Barbary’, Malta, Constantinople, Balaclava, and scenes on land including the bombardment of Sevastopol and a double-page view of the great plain of Balaclava (3)
Provenance
THE LIBRARY OF GENERAL SIR JAMES EDWARD ALEXANDER (1803-1885)
Footnote
Alexander travelled to North America with the rank of captain in his new regiment the 14th Foot in 1841. Between 1844 and 1845 he was detached to the Royal Engineers to help survey for a military road connecting Quebec and Halifax, recalling in a statement written decades later in support of his candidature for the Order of the Bath that ‘the work was very trying; and [I] got no promotion or reward for this beyond 10s. a day when in the bush, 7s. when working at plans and reports’. In 1847 he was appointed aide-de-camp to Sir Benjamin D'Urban, Commander-in-Chief, North America, whom he had previously served in the same capacity during the Cape Frontier War in South Africa in 1835, and continued as aide-de-camp to D'Urban's successor Sir William Rowan until 1855, when he proceeded with the regiment to the Crimea. He wrote or edited several books about his experiences in Canada, including L'Acadie; or Seven Years' Explorations in British America (1849), Canada, As It Was, Is, and May Be (1851), and Salmon-Fishing in Canada (1860).