Naval Manuscript.

including 26 pages with illustrations, mostly contemporary and historic naval scenes in watercolour, by montague dawson ('Cracking on', 230 x 290mm., 1925), William Wyllie, William Matthew Hale, Frank Henry Mason, Norman Wilkinson, Alma Barton Cull, Oswald Moser and others, also a pencil illustration by Harold Wyllie and one page with three photographs mounted; signatures including the future duke of windsor ("Edward of Wales", 22 June 1907), George V, Queen Mary, and Prince Axel of Denmark, other royalty, aristocrats, and visiting dignitaries notably winston churchill (probably Stockholm, 1912), ernest shackleton, and 9 members of the 1921 Australian cricket team (Arthur Mailey, Jack Ryder, and others), prominent naval figures including E.S. Alexander-Sinclair, Sir S.A.G. Calthorpe, and Admiral Bradley A. Fiske of the US navy, together with many other visitors, mostly to HMS Eclipse, at various named ports, as well as to Greatorex's London residence of 43 Argyll Road, Kensington; mostly written directly onto the album but some pieces mounted, tipped in, or loosely inserted; 64 pages plus blanks, oblong 4to, 1906 to 1925, limp blue roan with gilt lettering on upper cover ("H.M.S. Eclipse | 1960"), silk endpapers, covers somewhat worn with crude repairs

an attractive and unusual piece of naval memorabilia. Clement Greatorex (1869-1937) was a senior naval commander in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Most of the album was compiled between 1906 and 1913, when he commanded the Cruiser HMS Eclipse, with later entries principally dating from his secondment to the office of the Third Sea Lord (1913-17) and his command of the Portsmouth Division of the Reserve Fleet (1920-21). Greatorex began by inviting prominent visitors to sign his album - entries are dated from various ports in Britain and overseas - but with the addition of illustrations it became an increasingly spectacular object and Greatorex began to solicit contributions from artists specialising in maritime scenes. A number of illustrations depict  World War I era battleships in Dazzle camouflage.