Leather box with 20 drawings, etc by Hargitt etc

May 11, 2022

Lot 63

Leather box with 20 drawings, etc by Hargitt etc

Estimate: $200 - $300

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About this Lot

Description

THEYER & HARDTMUTH, of Vienna (stationers). - Edward HARGITT (1835-1895) and others (artists). A small lidded-box containing drawings and watercolors on shaped pieces of drawing paper separated by gilt-edged variously colored notepaper. [U.K.: 1856-1910]. Original penciled or watercolor natural-history drawings by Hargitt to 20 small pieces of paper (6 signed with initials, a number dated) plus 2 original pen and ink sketches by ‘D.G.’ dated 1909, of locations in Oxford, England, together with a number of blank sheets of notepaper (6 1/8 x 3 5/8inches; 156 x 93mm), all with gilded edges. Unbound (as issued) within a dark blue straight-grained morocco lidded box, modelled as a book, tooled in gilt, signed in gilt on the lower cover, watered silk liner to the inner upper cover (slight bowing to upper cover/ lid

A charming selection of aide-memoire sketches of birds, sheep, cattle and horses by a well-thought-of artist and naturalist. In addition, there are two excellent images of collegiate Oxford. All within a beautiful leather box. The Oxford sketches are on sheets of paper as supplied by the stationer, the shaped natural history sketches added later.

“Edward Hargitt was born in Edinburgh, son of the composer Charles Hargitt. He studied art in the Royal Scottish Academy under Robert Scott Lauder, and painted landscapes, several of which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in Burlington House. After 1880 he specialised in watercolours, often of scenery in the Scottish Highlands, where he spent an increasing amount of his time birdwatching. …. In 1871, he became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. … Hargitt became an ornithologist and developed into an expert on woodpeckers. He made a substantial collection of skins and eggs of European birds, acquired by the British Museum in 1893. He became a member of the Royal Institution and of the British Ornithological Union, and a fellow of the Zoological Society.” (wikipedia).

Theyer (or Thayer) & Hardtmuth, a traditional high-end stationers opened in 1733 (see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theyer_%26_Hardtmuth) – the present box and notepaper date to a period when they were very popular and supplied goods to the Austrian Court as well as many of the upper classes throughout Europe (and beyond).

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