Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/12

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

[11 S. I. JAN. 1, 1910.

To extract the needle of truth from th growing bundle of loose statements become increasingly difficult : it is far easier t write down Savage as an impostor, an Johnson as his dupe. How can we eve determine the main question affectin Savage's character the question whethe he was the victim or the agent of a fraud The evidence for establishing the frau itself is insufficient. More than a centur has passed, and still we can only repeat wit Boswell : " The world must vibrate in state of uncertainty as to what was th truth.' 1 STANLEY V. MAKOWEB.

LONDON TOPOGRAPHICAL PRINT! AND DRAWINGS.

THE impending sale by auction of th Gardner Collection of London Prints anc Drawings occasioned last summer some interesting notices in the press, and verj general have been the expressions of regre that this, the last of the great harvestings of illustrations of the London that has passed, should be scattered. There are to-day many private portfolios whose con tents rival, and even excel, certain sections of this and other huge collections formed in the last century ; but, so far as I am aware not any one claims to possess a greater number of prints and drawings of London generally. The origin and growth of this remarkable collection have not hitherto been recorded at any length, but from infor- mation kindly supplied by Mr. Fawcett and other sources, I have been able to compile this note.

The late Mr. J. E. Gardner, F.S.A., the collector, was born at 453, Strand, where his father, Thomas Gardner, was in business as an oilman. It has been suggested that the gift of a few prints started the hobby, but the first great purchase was made at Stevens's Auction-Room, where, when a mere lad, he secured an extra-illustrated Pennant for five guineas. Mr. Fawcett had been sent to the sale by his father, the bookseller of Great Wild Street, to buy the book at five pounds, and he was much surprised to hear his schoolfellow bid another five shillings and secure the lot. Of course Gardner's father had to be induced to provide the money, and rather unwillingly he did so ; but it was a wise concession, and if he lived to see the development of his son's hobby, he did not regret it.

Notes on the back of some of his earliest acquisitions record the collector's keen interest in the pursuit ; and when in after

life his business as a successful stockbroker provided ample means, he sought his Londiniana in salerooms and through almost every dealer* Not that he had the field to himself. His rivals (and they were doughty foemen) were James HolbertT Wilson (died 1865), Frederick Crace (died 1859), and the owner of the collection sold in July, 1853, whom I identify as the Rev. Dr. Wellesley. The keenness with which these collectors contended for choice items was a delight ; it was a battle of wits, and of foresight, not simply of banking accounts. The print-dealers or at least those who retained their custom wisely saw to it that each had some of the rare items they had for sale. As to the final result of this contest sale catalogues and our national collections bear witness.

Of the Grace portfolios little need be said, as they are known to probably every London topographer, and the catalogue by Mr. J. G. Crace is a very useful work of refer- ence. Of Holbert Wilson's harvesting we ought to have had a similar catalogue ; his MS. notes and cuttings brought together for that purpose occurred as lot 27 when his collection was sold in 1898. If their present possessor has no use for them, he might care to entrust them to me with a view to their publication. The Wellesley Collec- tion is almost unknown, yet it had merits placing it far in advance of the others.

For the purpose of making some com- parison, I will go back to the commencement of the nineteenth century, when the taste x>r such scraps had its beginning. The vogue for extra-illustration was then at its leight, but Granger and Clarendon were the r avourite volumes, and hardly any attention lad been paid to topographical books. In act, as far as London topography was concerned, there was little opportunity until the issue in 1790 of Pennant's ' London,* and the subsequent publication in 1805 of arge-paper editions up to that unwieldy ,ome the atlas folio. Then their interest was appreciated, and the demand for London >rints and drawings grew by leaps and >ounds. Things Bindley or Gough had ecured for pence and preserved in bundles vere now sorted, described, and rehabili- ated generally. Compare the unconsidered ots of topographical drawings in Gulstone's ale with the classification, by size, parish, r locality, of the London prints sold by ing on 23 April, 1804. To this sale I shall efer again later, but from the fact that iindley, Crowle, Lloyd, Sutherland, and oram were amongst the purchasers we