Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/587

 us. vi. DEC. 2i, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

48$

JONATHAN KING AND COLLECTIONS.

HIS

NOTWITHST AXDING that the late Mr. King's collections have been frequently mentioned in the newspapers, few persons have ever heard of him or of them.

They consisted of three kinds. One was of Christmas cards, another of valentines, of which he was a manufacturer. These two he required for the purposes of his business, but irrespective of this he took a lively interest in them, and purchased thousands for that reason alone. The third was prints of all kinds for the juvenile theatre, other- wise known as "one penny plain and two- pence coloured." These he chiefly acquired during the last few years by buying up other collections and remainders.

Of the cards he estimated that he had a million and a quarter. The Christmas number of The Studio for 1894 is devoted to an article by the late Gleeson White on ' Christmas Cards,' inspired by King's collec- tion. The writer refers to the loss it would be if they should be distributed, and suggests that if the nation can file railway time-tables, it might keep Christmas cards. He says Mr. King has followed the latter subject

" from inside knowledge, more closely perhaps than any other living person. His collection, contained in some 700 volumes, weighing between six and seven tons, includes about 163,000 varieties."

Of the valentines he had 25,000, interleaved in folio volumes. These two collections are absolutely unique, and none so complete can ever be made again. Mr. King used to show with great pride an intricate and wonderful specimen of a valentine made by his mother. For this class of work some five guineas had to be paid. I amused him by telling him that, as a young man, I was fool enough to pay two guineas for a valen- tine and did not get the girl after all ! The only idea the present generation have of valentines is the penny vulgarisms seen in by-street shopwindows.

Of the juvenile theatrical prints Mr. King had some ten thousand, also preserved in folio volumes. Many of these prints are now probably unique, and I know only one person besides myself who has such a number. King's collection of juvenile thea- trical prints has been described to me as " mauled and defective." I never had an opportunity of going through all the volumes but I have understood his chief object wa,< not so much completeness of sets, as to ge

ne copy at least of every print issued by

every juvenile theatrical publisher. He

>ought every portrait he could of every

actor ; but, besides the plain prints, he had

hree hundred coloured and tinselled por-

raits of the juvenile series.

King's collections were accumulated hrough years of patient searching and at an expenditure of thousands of pounds, have spent hours with him looking over lis treasures, but I never heard a word of com- mercial talk about price, which is the more remarkable as his business was to sell. He was a true collector ; his possessions were <ept because he liked to have them, and, ike Richard Heber, he hesitated at nothing on account of bulk or quality. He bought wholesale, and sold in the same way ; thus, 'or instance, when he had got what he wanted out of them, he sold for a song an odd lot of some forty thousand of the half- penny series of theatrical prints.*

My acquaintance with the collector com- menced about 1905, from his desire to inspect my collection of juvenile theatrical prints, aarticularly those of the early penny series, published by West, Jameson, Lloyd, Hodg- son, and others, comprising some two or three thousand sheets published between 1811 and 1836. Of the penny sets I know of one other only, and that is in the Print- Room of the British Museum, and it is freely open to inspection. By the latter date the above publishers had practically ceased to exist, only one W. West, of 57, Wych Street, the originator of the juvenile theatre series in 1811 being still in busi- ness ; he sold his own prints up to the year 1854, but he published no new plate after 1832 ; those of his dated 1847 are redated from 1827. About 1833 Skelt began issuing halfpenny sheets, and they eventually ousted the dearer prints.

Now, who was Jonathan King, who accumulated these overwhelming stores ? I think I may say there is not one of your readers who could answer this question, and probably not a dozen who have ever heard of his name. I have not seen a single biographical notice of him. Years hence, when inquiry may be made, it will be likely to meet with a poor answer. King's father, also a " Jonathan," was a foreman stone- mason at Chenies Street, earning 28s. a week. One day his master said, " Things are so bad that there is nothing but the

some thirty notes about these prints in ' N. & Q.' since 1873. On Christmas cards, notes will be found in 9 S. xii. 347, 391.
 * See 10 S. iv. 414 ; v. 25. There have been