Beschreibung:

Bristol. An illustrated manuscript journal, by C[harlotte] H. Girdlestone, circa 1836, pp.41, written throughout in a neat hand to rectos and verso, interspersed with a few items of verse and 12 drawings and vignettes comprising: 5 botanical watercolours; a pen & ink drawing of 3 choristers; 2 mounted topographical watercolours, one of Nightingale Valley and the other depicting 'a magnificent Elm'; 3 pen & ink sketches of a distant settlement, the Severn Estuary, and trees; and a pencil sketch of St. John's Church, watermarked Joynson 1836, stitching lost and page block loose in original printed card covers 'Superfine London Copy Book', with owner's manuscript name on upper cover, 4to (23 x 18.5 cm) (Qty: 1) Charting a two-week sojourn to Bristol and surrounding area, this skilfully-illustrated journal is by little-known artist Charlotte Girdlestone; a sketchbook by Charlotte is held by The National Archives, containing scenes in Cheshire drawn between 1837 and 1842, and a lithographic panorama of Regent's Park was sold at auction recently which was annotated in pencil: “Drawn on stone by Charlotte Girdlestone, between 1830 & 1835.” Amongst religious musings and extensive descriptions of flora, there are many mentions of excursions to places around Bristol, for example the writer describes a service at Bristol Cathedral, a trip to Clifton Downs, where the party view the Camera Obscura at the Observatory, and glimpse Cook's Folly "guarded from a lady's approach, by the abominations of a Beer shop and Tea gardens", a visit "to the Hotwells, where I drank the tepid water of the Spring ... ", and trips to the Zoological Gardens, Almondsbury Hill, Penpole Hill, the Ropeworks, Mr. Gassaway's Nursery Gardens, Henbury Cottages, and the Church of St. Mary, Redcliffe where Hogarth's Altarpiece was examined and the tower ascended. Unsurprisingly there is an emphasis on painting and the arts, the writer making note of her own time spent drawing or arranging portfolios, as well as such notable occasions as a trip to Windsor Terrace, Clifton where "I did not see Mr. Rippingille's pictures" (presumably Bristol School artist Edward Villers Rippingille), although a subsequent trip was more successful "Admired pictures in Mr. West's Studio". An outing to see Mr. William's Cabinet of Minerals is described at length, and at the Academy of Arts the writer "examined the pictures for an hour" detailing certain pieces by Syers, Wolfe, Curnock, Simmons, Jackson. An evening is described in which "Mr. William brought home from a Sale, 3 boxes of Medallions in Plaster of Paris and Terra Cotta, most beautiful ... If each mind has its peculiar element of sympathetic pleasure, I think mine is in beauty of Form", going on to say "After the Medallions came the book of Ferns, from Madeira and Jamaica".