[Fishing] Lawrence, Sir Thomas, and Thomas Rowlandson, and Paul Sandby, et al.: Album of Original Angling-Themed Illustrations and Prints

Lawrence, Sir Thomas, and Thomas Rowlandson, and Paul Sandby, et al.
Album of Original Angling-Themed Illustrations and Prints
London and Paris, etc., ca. 1760s-1840s. From the sporting library of American adventurer, naturalist, and sportsman, Brooke Dolan II. Comprising eight original illustrations, in pen, ink, and wash, etc., and 19 engraved, lithographic, and mezzotint prints (16 hand-colored); all window-mounted onto 17 sheets. Elephant folio. Bound within full straight-grain crimson morocco, elaborately stamped in gilt with a large sporting-themed ornament stamped in gilt at center of front and rear boards, boards and extremities worn and rubbed, spine ends and corners worn; all edges trimmed; by Knight; armorial book-plate of Edward Penton on front paste-down; dampstaining in top corner of endpapers and all window mounts (not affecting art). In contemporary red cloth slip case with brass lock and key, worn.

A charming album of original and printed illustrations of angling scenes, featuring eight original illustrations in watercolor and pen and ink. Notable illustrations include a pen and ink portrait by English artist Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) of Sir Edmund Antrobus and Gibbs Crawfurd Antrobus, as children and with fishing rods; a watercolor illustration by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) of two men fishing; a watercolor illustration by Paul Sandby (1731-1809), of a similar scene; other illustrations by William Samuel Howitt, William Collins, James Wells, and one unidentified artist.

The album also includes 19 fine engraved, lithographic, and mezzotint plates, most notably, “Two Anglers on a Bridge”, by Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85), ca. 1650s. Others include: “The Lovely Angler”, John Fairborn, 1796; “Punt Fishing”, J. Wheble, 1795; “Spring”, C. Catton, Jr., 1793; “Fishing Scene”, W. Sherman, ca. 1840; “The Angelic Angler”, Carrington Bowles, 1780; "Straphon & Chloe", Robert Sayer; “The Pretty Waterwoman”, John Collet, 1780; frontispiece to “The Painting and Perspective”, J. Kirby, 1757; “Angling” Francis Barlow; “Het Visch Vermaak”, F. Taroni; “Two Boys Fishing”, George Morland, ca. 1801; “Izaak Walton--The Old English Angler”, by Dean & Co.; “The Young Angler”, R.J. Hamerton, 1829; untitled lithograph by Edward Purcell, 1822; “Poach Fishing--Broxbourne” and “Perch Fishing--Teddington”, Henry Heath; “The Sweet Little Girl That I Love”, R. Laurie & J. Whittle, 1794; “Fair Emily”, Robert Dighton, 1796; “L'aura T'il?”, Grenier; “Grande Victoire”, J. Desandre; “Les petits Pecheurs”, E. Desmaisons, 1845; “The Young Anglers”, Ruby; and others.

Brooke Dolan II (1908-45) was an American adventurer, naturalist, sportsman, and book collector. Educated at Harvard University and Princeton University, he later became a trustee of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. During the 1930s he led two notable expeditions to China and Tibet, collecting numerous specimens that he sent back for the Academy's collection. In 1942, during World War II, he was recruited to serve in the OSS (precursor of the CIA) and traveled to Lhasa with Ilya Tolstoy (grandson of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy), searching for supply routes to China for the Allied Forces. During this time they established contact with the Tibetan government and met the seven-year-old 14th Dalai Lama--the first Americans to ever do so. He then joined the Army Air Forces, and the United States Military Observer Group in Western China, behind Japanese lines near Mao’s headquarters. He died in 1945.

Edward Penton

Arthur N. Gilbey

Christie's, London, The Arthur N. Gilbey Collection of Angling Pictures and Early English Drawings, April 25-26, 1940, Lot 2

Brooke Dolan II, thence by descent in the family