Ink-and-Wash Drawing.

Children's book and periodical illustrator about whom little is known; in April, May and June 1889 Hill provided the illustrations for Sarah Orne Jewett's serialized tale ""A Bit of Color" for "St. Nicholas" magazine, later expanded into the 1890 novel "Betty Leicester: A Story of Girls," and his work appears in many other turn-of-thye-century books and periodicals. Item #18126

Superb original ink-and-wash drawing, 12" X 9", n.p., n.d. Near fine. Neatly mounted, as is typical, to a heavy art board. A nighttime flood scene, it shows half-submerged buildings and flotsam, with a man in a three-piece suit uncomfortably straddling a tall post and a small boat rowed by a black woman pulling up alongside. On the verso, in an unidentified hand (probably an editor's), two possible titles are listed ("Clarissy Ann and the Flood" and "Clarissy Ann rescues her landlord") and a caption is given ("'I kin help you, if you agree to a few things' said Clarissy."). This same hand also indicates "St. Nic." -- a reference to St. Nicholas, the monthly children's magazine (edited by Mary Mapes Dodge and published between 1873 and 1939) where this illustration must have appeared. From the noted autograph collection of Albert Johannsen, author of "The House of Beadle and Adams and Its Dime and Nickel Novels" (University of Oklahoma Press, 1950), the definitive reference work and bibliography on the subject. A striking piece of original illustration art. Johannsen's original 8½" X 11" file folder, bearing a printed "Collection of Albert Johannsen" label (partly filled in by Johannsen), accompanies this item.

Price: $395.00

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