War impressions (deluxe edition, copy number 1, with original signed watercolour)

Being a record in colour by Mortimer Menpes. Transcribed by Dorothy Menpes. London : Adam & Charles Black, 1901. Quarto, in a fine signed binding by Bickers of London of full levant morocco, elaborately ruled and tooled in gilt, spine in compartments with raised bands, gilt lettering and tooling, edges slightly rubbed, morocco turn-ins with gilt tooling, silk doublures, top edge gilt, the others uncut, the original cloth panel for the original binding bound in, presentation inscription to preliminary blank, pp. xiv; 254, some pages unopened, illustrated with 99 colour plates with captioned tissue guards, facsimile letters and maps, a very fine copy. The edition de luxe, limited to 350 numbered copies printed on hand-made paper. This is copy number 1, the first 50 copies contained an original watercolour by Menpes of Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, Commander of the British forces in the Second Boer War and one of the most successful British military commanders of his time.

Copy number 1, with an original signed watercolour, in a magnificent presentation binding.

A fine illustrated work by Adelaide-born artist Mortimer Menpes, with text written by his daughter Dorothy Whistler Menpes. Mortimer Menpes moved to England at the age of twenty where he would enjoy a successful career in painting and etching. In 1880 he embarked on a sketching tour of Brittany, where he befriended James MacNeil Whistler, becoming his pupil and close associate, and learning the art of etching from the master. Menpes became a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (RE) in 1881, Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) in 1885, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) in 1897 and Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) in 1899, and, amongst other achievements, was also godfather to Oscar Wilde’s son Vyvyan.

A stunning book documenting the Boer War by Mortimer Menpes who was sent to South Africa as a war artist for the weekly illustrated magazine Black and White.

Provenance:

Florance Montefiore Guedalla (F. M. Guedalla), with a warm inscription to him from an unidentified giver dated New York, August 14th, 1901. Guedalla was a prominent London-based solicitor and attorney, best known for his legal work advising major Hollywood studios on copyright and representing the famous art dealers such as Duveen.