Crafts morris william (4 Ergebnisse)

Zustand: New. In English.

Zustand: New. In English.

Totalling 10pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. ONE: 14 September 1899. 4pp., 12mo. He was pleased to receive Hodson's letter from Southwold, and reports on the 'Abraham sale', and 'talk of a tram line being made to Mochras' ('all fudge & nonsense'). 'At the Junction, Solomon Andrews has been busy building houses, but as they are sinking into the peat bog he has had to pull part of them down again; or else they fell down, which they seem to have done to judge by the chaotic confusion of the ruin.' He describes a visit to a 'nearly unspoilt bit of county where Progress is unknown' and 'even the name of Dreyfus signified nothing'. He has 'marvelled' at Capel Curig, 'wished for a month there amongst the crags, to do slaylines & bee-lines. Talk about MacLure on Richmond Hill! Your true mountain scenery is in the neighbourhood of the Glyder Fawr. Lord!' TWO: 27 December 1899. 4pp., 12mo. Thanking him for the Christmas present to his family, and praising the 'dainty talent in design' of 'Mrs Easkin', and commenting on one of her compositions. 'Are you girding your loins, buckling on your sword & preparing for the "front"? Of course, I allude to the "outburst of patriotism" & mobilising of volunteers' (in the Second Boer War). He jokes that 'married men with families are ineligible, so you must eat your heart out at Compton'. Expresses a hope that 'our forces will score soon. Lately, I have been afraid of opening the paper, lest "British Reverse", or "Check to Butler" in large type should meet my eye.' He ends by describing Dolgelly, as seen on a recent visit. THREE: 3 May 1906. 2pp., 12mo. He discusses the state of a house: 'The barn door is in a bad state, quite beyond repair. What is left of the ivy will hold up the slates for the present. R. Roberts is putting the new floor in. A built-up fire place, & chimney have come to light (no pun intended).'.…

An interesting letter, in which Webb sets out his approach to bookplate design. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, 'By 1899 Webb was in poor health and losing money. His meagre savings were insufficient to build a cottage, so he accepted Caxtons, a four-bedroom sixteenth-century yeoman's house at Worth, near Crawley, Sussex, offered at a selflessly low rental by his friend William Scawen Blunt.' For the context of the present letter, see the letter from Webb to Sydney Cockerell, 1 September 1902, in volume 3 of John Apin's edition of Webb's letters. The present item is 1p, landscape 8vo, and consists of eighteen lines written in a tiny hand in pencil, with a number of ink additions that raise the possibility that it may be a draft. Addressed to 'Dear Mr. Holliday' and signed 'Ph: W.' In fair condition, on worn paper with a block of sunning. Folded into three equal sections by two vertical creases. He begins by stating that on 16 August Sydney Cockerel sent him [in a letter now in the British Library] an extract of one of Holliday's letters to him, beginning 'I suppose we are getting nearer to the time when Philip Webb will be at liberty to think about my book plate'. Webb's reply is: 'Now, & at this time, I can only answer with your word 'nearer' - for there is one in hand (or rather in rough idea) which has to be done before yours, on the principle of "first come, first served".' On the wider question he writes: 'I need scarcely add, that to do anything for you - which I thought passably fit to let go, would please me much; & therefore, I write the following with that not too forlorn hope. Cannot you think of something in your life, or of belongings, or fancy, or fact, which would be a hook on which to hang my [last word underlined] "fancy"? You see - or wd. guess, that I do not like to make such a design which has not some sufficient significance in it - great or small, - as the case may be - and for motive: when I have this it tethers me to some positive instead of a negative course; though I might add to or deduct from my brief according to the demands of decorative art - or my own wilfulness?' He turns to the 'third to be served' with a bookplate, John Feeney, proprietor of the Birmingham Daily Post. In that case 'the spirit is willing but the time and aptitude are but small. There is always a load on my spirit of things undone, when undoing to get into bed 365 nights in the year, so that I long to unship my pack of sin as Bunyan's "Christian" did his. What fellows these Cockerells & Walkers are for getting me into this "slough of despond"!' A postscript refers to 'Catterson Smith & the mace' (explained in John Apin's edition of Webb's letters). See Image.…