Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/259

 NOTES BY THE WAY.

��189

��Blake

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��WILLIAM BLAKE.

The valuable collection of Blake's illustrations and drawings 1903, Apr. 11. formed by Mr. Monckton Milnes, and afterwards in the possession William of his son the Earl of Crewe, recently sold at Sotheby's, brought

large prices. Twenty-one original designs in colours for the illus-

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trations of the book of Job, together with Blake s original portrait of

himself, and the twenty-two proof engravings on India paper from these, were purchased by Mr. Quaritch for 5,600?. Gilchrist, in his life of Blake, mentions these as being amongst the finest and sanest of the artist's achievements. The original drawings for Milton's ' L' Allegro ' and ' II Penseroso,' bound with the text of the poems and explanations of the designs hi manuscript, went for 1,960?. to Mr. A. Jackson ; ' The Book of Urizen,' 1794, twenty-seven numbered plates, 307?. ; ' America, a Prophecy,' 1793, the rare original coloured issue, 295?. ; ' The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,' twenty-seven plates, 260?. ; and ' Europe, a Prophecy,' Lambeth, 1794, seventeen plates in colours, 203?.

��to be sold.

��CLIFFORD'S INN.

Messrs. Farebrother, Ellis, Egerton, Breach & Co. announced 1903 > A P r - H- that on the 14th of May, 1903, they would sell in one lot, Clifford's Inn unless previously disposed of by private contract, Clifford's Inn, Fleet Street, forming an extensive site with a superficial area of about 38,000 feet, suitable for the erection of legal and professional chambers, commercial offices, or a public institution, or for the creation of ground rents, the buildings now on the land including "the historic hall.... of Gothic design, lighted by six windows, which measures 33 ft. by 30 ft., and has a fourteenth-century arch leading to the offices and wine cellars." The property is described as having been originally granted to masters of the Society of Clifford's Inn, under an indenture of feoffment dated the 29th of March, 1618, by the then Earl of Cumberland and his son Lord Clifford.

The Inn was purchased by Mr. Willett for 100,000, and lovers of old London will rejoice that this ancient inn still remains.

��THE FIRST CHRISTMAS CARD.

The death of Mr. John Callcott Horsley, R.A., on the 19th of 1903, Oct. 31. October, 1903, is a reminder that he designed for the late Sir Henry The first Cole (Felix Summerly) the first Christmas card, issued Christmas, 1846. I still possess the one signed by my father, " To my beloved wife and children." It bears the imprint, " Summerly's Home Treasury Office, 12, Old Bond Street," where a number of delightful books for children were published, Cole " obtaining the welcome assistance of some of the first artists in illustrating them." These

��Christmas

card : J. C.

Horsley, R.A.

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