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130 TIMLIN, William M. “The Building of a Fairy City”. 1939 Original artwork by the significant fantasy illustrator This magnificent drawing is from Timlin’s watercolour cycle The Building of a Fairy City , left unpublished upon his death in 1943. The artist is acknowledged as being “in the top ten of fantasy illustrators” (Horne, p. 413). This piece powerfully demonstrates the artist’s architectural training combined with a fantasy landscape. Timlin moved to Kimberley, South Africa in 1912 and designed a number of important buildings in that city while pursuing his interest in art, producing a large number of watercolour fantasies in addition to oils, pastels, etchings and periodical illustrations. His work was regularly exhibited. His only published book was The Ship that Sailed to Mars (1923), which demonstrates remarkable flights of fantasy (see previous item). Timlin’s “most significant expression of the world of fantasy, which formed a considerable part of his output, is to be found among his studies for The Building of a Fairy City , which flowed forth from his profession as an architect, the series exhibiting some fine structural drawing arising from an enchanted dreamland” (Rall, p. 164). Original drawing (746 × 503 mm) on paper, fine pen, ink and watercolour, signed and dated (“William M. Timlin 1939”) lower right, framed, and glazed (framed size 980 × 725 mm). Slight foxing to reverse; a strong and vibrant watercolour. ¶ Alan Horne, The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators , 1994; Maureen Rall, Petticoat Pioneers: The History of the Pioneer Women who Lived on the Diamond Fields in the Early Years , 2002. £20,000 [44516]
131 TOLKIEN, J. R. R. (contrib.); GOBLE, Warwick (illus.) The Book of Fairy Poetry. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1920 Tolkien illustrated for the first time First edition, first impression, with the very scarce jacket. This collection of fairy poetry includes Tolkien’s poem “Goblin Feet”, which had been the author’s first appearance in book form within Oxford Poetry 1915 . The illustration by Warwick Goble is the first appearance in print of a drawing depicting Tolkien characters. Numerous other authors are represented, including Matthew Arnold, William Davenant, Walter de la Mare, Florence Harrison, Robert Herrick, Ben Jonson, John Keats, Andrew Lang, Fiona Macleod, Andrew Marvell, John Milton, Christina Rossetti, William Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, and W. B. Yeats. Quarto. Original grey cloth, spine and front cover lettered and decorated in blue, illustrated endpapers, top edge blue. With dust jacket. Colour frontispiece and 15 colour plates with tissue guards, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Warwick Goble. Extremities a little bumped, front inner hinge slightly tender; a near-fine and crisp copy. Dust jacket slightly frayed at extremities, spine toned and with soiling to flaps; a very good example. ¶ Hammond, p. 279. £1,750 [155501]
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
CHILDREN’S BOOKS & ORIGINAL ARTWORK
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