Cruikshank, George

altogether 141 items, comprising: sketches, portraits, caricatures, studies, and vignettes in ink and watercolour (95pp.) and pencil (39pp.), mostly drawn on the versos and in the margins of letters and scraps of paper, many signed or initialled; autograph draft letters and manuscripts by Cruikshank, altogether more than 50 pages (excluding incomplete fragments); about 16 letters to Cruikshank by editors, publishers, writers, and others, many discussing Cruikshank's illustrations; also a small number of prints; all items mounted into an album with a handwritten title-page, 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 COLLECTION OF LETTERS, DRAFTS AND FRAGMENTS, ALMOST ALL EMBELLISHED WITH LIVELY AND INVENTIVE SKETCHES, SPANNING SOME FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARTIST’S LIFE. These abundant examples of Cruikshank’s delightful sketches and caricatures evidence his inveterate artistic instincts and imagination, particularly on occasions when he incorporates existing textual features into his drawing, depicting a figure hanging from his signature and using a postal marking as a dancer’s round belly. Many are signed "GC^k", which Cruikshank adopted partly as a means to distinguish himself from his great-nephew, George Percy (b.1842), who had developed his own reputation as an illustrator by the 1860s. Beset by poverty, and with two families to provide for, in times of desperation Cruikshank gathered up and initialled the sketches in his workshop with the hope of adding value. The letters themselves include correspondence with Arthur Locker, W.H. Ainsworth, Charles Kent and Martin Tupper, and a draft letter by Cruikshank correcting the report of the funeral of William Hone that appeared in Forster's Life of Dickens.

We are very grateful to Professor Robert L. Patten for his assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.