Beschreibung:

Collection of one hundred and sixty-three watercolor drawings of characters from Dickens works.
N.p. but England: n.d. but circa 1887-1899]. 163 original watercolors on a variety of laid and wove paper, various sizes (11 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches; 292 x 222 mm and smaller), all signed "Kyd", many titled with the character's name and the novel in which they appear, some within an original ink-ruled frame. Unbound within a later cloth chemise and slipcase. Condition : a few drawings with spotting or staining to the margins, occasional browning. an unusually large collection of “kyd’s” superb watercolors: capturing with the brush what dickens had described with the pen. Joseph Clayton Clarke who worked under the pseudonym of "Kyd" was the greatest of the illustrators who specialised in producing images for inclusion in extra-illustrated examples of Dickens work. Kyd concentrated on images of individual characters (as here) and seldom (if ever) illustrated scenes from the stories. His work was much admired during his lifetime and a suite of his characterizations ( The Characters of Charles Dickens ) were published in 1889. The present collection is one of the most wide-ranging to come on the market in a long time: a group of 72 watercolors sold in 1993 is the next-largest group listed as having sold at auction in the last 30 years. The present group includes thirty-two characters from Pickwick Papers , twenty-four characters from Martin Chuzzlewit , twenty characters from Bleak House , fourteen from The Old Curiosity Shop , fourteen from Oliver Twist , eleven from David Copperfield , ten from Dombey and Son , ten from Barnaby Rudge , eight from Nicholas Nickleby , and other characters from Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, The Battle of Life, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, A Tale of Two Cities, Sketches by Boz, Hard Times.