F I N E B O O K S & M A N U S C R I P T S
COMPREHENSIVE ARCHIVE OF A GOLDEN AGE ILLUSTRATOR 27. The Archive of Horace J. Knowles KNOWLES, Horace J. [1909-1954]. The surviving archive of golden age illustrator Horace J. Knowles. Comprising over 1,200 original illustrations for his published work, preparatory drawings, and sketch- books, as well as his own copies of his illustrated books. Price for the archive: £135,000 T he completeness of the archive, featuring original illustrations from practically all of Knowles’s known published work, and its remaining in the artist’s family since his death, explains the near total absence of original artwork by Knowles in modern commerce. There is a corollary absence of his work held in public institutions and libraries, with the gift of two small drawings he made to Poplar Central Library in April 1951 being the only recorded examples. There are a number of complete original manuscripts for his fully-illustrated books, including magnum opus Peeps Into Fairyland , as well as The Legend Of Glastonbury, Countryside Treasures , and My First Book Of Prayers . Here, the entire aesthetic design for each page is meticulously laid out on thick, large sheets with the impeccable detail of its finished form. The archive also reflects how Knowles worked industriously through to the end of his life. His work on the Bible was comprehensive, with four sketchbooks filled with illustrations, plans, and assiduously checked off lists of the major events that deserved pictorial representation. Equally, the drawings he produced for the Tip-Top Annual, The Kiddies Magazin e and other similar chil- dren’s annuals number into the hundreds and all date from the final decade of his life. As you explore the archive and the Knowles canon, it becomes clear that he forged a path dis- tinct from that of his more commercially successful peers, not merely furnishing much-reprinted stories with a dozen or so colour plates, but instead seeking to create whole books in a single aes- thetic harmony. Those who commissioned and saw his work agreed, and his advocates ranged from Joseph Malaby Dent to Enid Blyton. His working relationship with the latter spanned nearly two decades, and their correspondence reveals how much Blyton clamoured to find more work for him. While the original illustrations of his contemporaries, such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Du- lac, were sold off and split up during their own lifetimes, Knowles kept almost the entirety of his published work. The survival and preservation of such a complete archive is, we believe, unique among fellow illustrators of the Golden Age.
A complete, illustrated catalogue of the archive is available, contact us for details
35
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker