Gill, Eric (1882-1940)
Collection of original cartoons and lettering specimens, c.1915-27
£1,890
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 28 September 2022 from 10:00 BST
Description
evidently intended for projection via magic lantern (all lettering in reverse), 15 in total, watercolours with outlining in pencil or ink, on rectos of postcards, most 8.8 x 14cm (a few smaller), 5 annotated on verso by Gill's daughter Petra Tegetmeier 'This lettering is [/This is a drawing] by my father Eric Gill, Petra Tegetmeier', the remainder with labels reading 'Original drawing by Eric Gill, from the Gill family collection', subjects comprising: self-portrait (caption 'Eric the sculptor'); The Adoration of the Shepherds; nude portrait probably of Gill's daughter Elizabeth (captioned 'Eliz. washing at Fribourg', additional annotation by Gill at head, 'from memory of Eliz. seen washing at Fribourg, EG Oct. 10 '21'); dragon (captioned 'TERROR'); starry night; lone star; crying baby (captioned 'I wish father had never married mother'); caricature with caption 'Call yourself a Benedictine?'; caricature with caption 'The Spanish grande and a little bit of homespun'; and 4 lettering specimens
Footnote
Note: Eric Gill's enthusiasm for using a magic lantern (also known as an epidiascope or mirrorscope) to entertain his young family is mentioned in Fiona MacCarthy's biography of Gill, where it is linked to the character of Gill's own upbringing: 'Eric Gill’s was a Victorian childhood in its mixture of terror and sentimentality. His own characteristic combination of the serious and frolicsome, noted by David Jones … was very much part of his Victorian inheritance. He shared his father’s fascination for the mechanical world as well as the spiritual. They both loved a contraption: a telescope; a microscope; the mirrorscope which so delighted Gill’s own children’ (p. 20).
Provenance: Property of an English collector.