May, Phil

i) "Awfully sorry sir, quite an accident [&c.]", 287 x 225mm., signed and dated 1893; ii) "Things we see at Newlyn when we come out with our gun", 203 x 130mm., signed and dated 1893; iii) “Real Sympathy”, 194 x 136mm., signed and dated 1894; iv) "[Not what he meant]". 214 x 193mm., signed and dated 1894; v) "All Hot", 262 x 171mm., signed and dated 1894; vi) a pencil and coloured crayon drawing on Melina Place headed paper, signed and dated 1903; together with 2 further sketches of figures, both signed and dated 1894, and a signed sketch of a group of figures; pen and ink, pencil and coloured crayon, all mounted framed and glazed, occasional light spotting (9)

i) Fine Art Society, London; vi) Ernest Brown & Phillips Ltd. (The Leicester Galleries), London

The mid-1890s were the "golden years" of May's career. It was not until 1895 that he joined the Punch staff, but he contributed his cartoons in the years preceding this, including "Real Sympathy" (Punch, 13 October 1894, p.180) and "[Not what he meant]" (Punch Xmas Number, 1894). He also published his own Illustrated Annual, in which (i) appeared in 1893 (p.54). However, by the end of the decade his dependence on alcohol began to take its toll. He spent the last few years of his life increasingly confined to his bed at 5, Melina Place.