Engravings. With an Introduction by the Artist, and an Appreciation by Kenneth Clark.

Bookseller Notes

Laid into the book are four single-page autograph letters from Reynolds Stone, to Richard Smart a director at Arthur Tooth & Sons Gallery in London. The letters, on paper headed to his Bracken Cottage address, arrange the design and printing of a bookplate for Smart: in the first, he accepts the commission, and directs Smart to the 3d stamp of his design being issued that very day (11th June, 1946); the second, almost a year later, apologises for the delay and encloses an example (not present) to gauge the style sought; the next provides a further proof, following Smart's request for 'a slightly more defined flourish to the t' and closes in reference to the question of 'printers and printing'; the latter is taken up again in the final, and longest, letter, mentioning that the block has been sent to T.N. Lawrence, thereafter to be sent to Smart whose choice of James Shand as a printer is approved by Stone ('It is sure to be a good job'), the engraver concluding with discussion of his fee, reducing his rate from 10-10-0 to 8-8-0 'in view of the time I have kept you waiting'.