Lot 27
'Atherley'
Sets of original printing blocks for editions of Black Beauty and Hiawatha
Auction: Books & Manuscripts | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 1 to 78
Description
engraved metal plates (one copper, the rest probably zinc), mounted on wooden blocks, 29 apparently relating to Black Beauty (many with artist's signature ‘Atherley’ in the plate, various dimensions, 8 measuring 13.5 x 9.6cm and presumably for full-page illustrations, the rest smaller), and 31 to Hiawatha (various dimensions, 8 measuring 9 x 13cm, one larger and unmounted, 15 x 9.5cm, for the title-page, with text including ‘Illustrated by Atherley’, the rest smaller, 2 of which unmounted), variably oxidised
Footnote
These plates were produced to illustrate two instalments in the Riverside Readers series of abridged retellings of children's classics, edited by Constance M. Martin and published by Philip & Tacey, educational equipment suppliers, c.1935-45. ‘Atherley’ is likely to be the L. Thomas Atherley who was active as an illustrator in the 1930s.