Front board
Rear board
"The London Sketch-Book: an Illustrated Newspaper and Magazine" was published in single issues in 1874 and 1875. The most notable feature of this short-lived magazine was the issuance of four to five chromo-lithographs with the Jan.-Aug. monthly issues. These original 4-colour caricature drawings were all executed by the well-known French artist of the day "Faustin"(Faustin Betbeder). Faustin was born in Soissons, France in 1847 and died about 1914. Working in Paris, Faustin executed many scathing caricatures of the Franco-Prussian War as well as conveying the atmosphere in Paris during this period, both politically and socially. He later moved to England, where he set up a printing business and contributed illustrations to the London Figaro.
The website of the National Portrait Gallery showed they have just one original pen-and-ink drawing by Faustin as well as only 3 of the chromo-lithographs from the volume I've described here. (This was 2006.) I did a search on the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) website and did not find mention of either volume of "The London Sketch-Book". I notice the British Library has a bound volume of each but they do seem to be scarce elsewhere. Marc Ward of the National Art Library at V & A has acknowledged that they do not have a copy but due to budget cuts they are unable to commit to a purchase at this time. Robin Francis of the National Portrait Gallery did considerable checking into uncatalogued material before discovering that they did have several of the images that appear in this book. Otherwise, the book would have been of interest to them. NOTE: I see now that Mr. Francis has gotten his act together and there are now 28 of Faustin's chromolithographs illustrated on their website. Both gentlemen acknowledge that this is a scarce item.I offer a bound volume of the 12 months of 1874 with boards detached and spine missing. See two views above. 33 of the original 35 colour illustrations are present, including 32 cartoon illustrations of London celebrities, mostly politicians, some royalty, as well as a full-page, 4-colour cartoon entitled "Ashantee". Missing are two illus. of Parisian Fashions for March and April (I don't believe they were ever bound into this particular volume). Each monthly issue consists of 32 pages plus the tipped-in plates. The book measures abt. 7 x 10" tall and the caricature plates are abt. 5-1/2 x 8-1/2" tall, a few slightly larger. A few plates have very minor foxing, one has minor damage to one edge, otherwise they are in VG to VG+ condition. The book itself has some scattered minor foxing plus edge damage to a couple of pages. The last four issues did not have bonus chromo-lithographs but instead had a photo, abt. 3-1/2 x 4-1/2", laid-on to the cover (title) page. These pages are slightly wrinkled, I think due to the photos being affixed to them. (I have included a photo of one of these cover pages.)
The four people chosen for the photos and the feature articles of these four months were: painter Miss Elizabeth Thompson; writer A.A. Dowty (Figaro's "Smiff"); concert-singer Mdlle. Carlotta Patti; and writer George Augustus Sala. Issues June, July and August include 12 caricatures of Disraeli (new original image) and 11 members of his administration as a sort of sub-set. Instead of being described as "chromo-lithographs", these 12 illustrations are referred to as "chromographs". List of subjects portrayed by Faustin in Vol. 1, London Sketch-Book 1. Queen Victoria 2. Rt. Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, M.P. 3. The Tichborne Claimant 4. H.R.H. Count de Chambord 5. Mr. Hawkins, Q.C. and Dr. Kenealy, Q.C. 6. Rt. Hon. W.E. Gladstone, M.P. 7. Rt. Hon. John Bright, M.P. 8. Sir Alexander Cockburn, Chief Justice of England 9. Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor of London (Lusk) 10. George Odger 11. Ashantee! (as already described and pictured) 12. H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh 13. H.R.H. The Duchess of Edinburgh 14. Samuel Plimsoll, Esq., M.P. 15. Rt. Hon. Robert Lowe, M.P. 16. Lord Coleridge 17. Professor Darwin (with ape) 18. H.R.H. The Prince of Wales 19. H.R.H. The Princess of Wales 20. The Prince Imperial (Napoleon IV) 21. Rt. Hon. A.S. Ayrton, Esq. (portrayed as a porcupine) The entire Disraeli administration of 1874: 22. The Marquis of Salisbury (Secretary of State for India) 23. Lord Cairns (Lord Chancellor) 24. Duke of Richmond (Lord President of the Council) 25. Rt. Hon. G.W. Hunt (First Lord of the Admiralty) 26. Rt. Hon. Benjamin Disraeli (First Lord of the Treasury) 27. Rt. Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon (Colonial Secretary) 28. Rt. Hon. Gathorne Hardy (Secretary of State for War) 29. Rt. Hon. Lord John James Robert Manners (Postmaster General) 30. Rt. Hon. Sir Stafford Northcote (Chancellor of the Exchequer) 31. Earl of Malmesbury (Lord Privy Seal) 32. Rt. Hon. R.A. Cross (Home Secretary) Portrayed as being crucified. 33. Earl of Derby (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) The Publisher's notice in each issue states that these portraits can appear in the London Sketch-Book only. The majority of the plates do not have any foxing, while some have two or three spots in the outer right margin. One plate has suffered more than the others--the illustration of Marquis of Salisbury--and I have attached a photo.
Many of the text pages, although slightly discoloured, are free of foxing, especially in the first half of the book. Other pages have some scattered minor foxing, increasing somewhat in the later numbers. The title pages for the last four numbers with the photographs attached do have slightly heavier foxing, along with one or two pages to each side of them. I have already given you the heaviest-foxed example. In 1872, the great American writer, Ambrose Bierce, settled in Bristol with his new wife. For the next couple of years, Bierce did some writing for a few humorous English journals including the London Sketch-Book. A few of his short pieces can be identified in this 1874 volume, including "Intellectual Phantoms" under one of Bierce's common pseudonyms "Dod Grile". SOLD I'd be happy to answer any other questions about this item if you need more information. (Note: I've not been able to find any of these original plates for sale but I did find someone in England selling reproductions of these prints and others by Faustin for 22 Pounds each and someone is selling a reproduction poster of the "Darwin with an Ape" chromo-lithograph for about 40 Pounds.)
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