Cruikshank, George

altogether 141 items, comprising: sketches, portraits, caricatures, studies, and vignettes in ink and watercolour (95 pages) and pencil (39 pages), mostly drawn on the versos and margins of letters and scraps of paper, many signed or initialled by Cruikshank; autograph draft letters and manuscripts by Cruikshank, including verse letters to his friends Arthur Locker and W.H. Ainsworth, altogether more than 50 pages (excluding incomplete fragments); about 16 letters to Cruikshank by editors, publishers, writers, and others, including Charles Kent, Martin Tupper, William Harrison Ainsworth, and Arthur Locker, many discussing Cruikshank's illustrations; also a small number of prints; 1830s-70s, all items mounted into an album with a handwritten title-page ("George Cruikshank. Autograph Letters, Scraps & Sketches. Including [some from] Mr. Naismith's Collection"), 210 pages, folio, red morocco gilt, joints tender, one leaf torn (mount and letter)

(Portion, loose) R.T. Naismith of Plewlands, Edinburgh; sale of his library, Hodgson's, 7 February 1923 (lots 250-262 of this sale comprised various groups of loose sketches and letters by Cruikshank, which are not individually identifiable in the current album, which was compiled subsequent to this sale); Edmund C. Converse; sale of his library, American Art Association, 4 January 1928, lot 120, to "Dr R[osenbach?]"

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A rich and lively collection of work by George Cruikshank, gathering together sketches, letters, drafts, and fragments produced over a period of some fifty years. It was characteristic of Cruikshank to fill scraps of paper with sketches and caricatures - a symptom of his inveterate artistic instincts as much as of the poverty that dogged him for much of his adult life - leading text and illustration to combine in fascinating ways. He drew under, into, and around the existing text on the page and would occasionally even incorporate textual features into his drawings, such as when he turns a circular postal marking into a strange round-bellied dancing figure. Highlights range from an acute self-portrait to bizarre caricatures, as well as significant letters including discussions of commissions and a draft letter by Cruikshank correcting the report of the funeral of William Hone that appeared in Forster's Life of Dickens.