TÖPFFER (Rodolphe). Monsieur Pencil. - Lot 286

TÖPFFER (Rodolphe). Monsieur Pencil. Prestigious provenance for this print literature by Rodolphe Töpffer. Genève, Schmid, 1840. In-8 oblong (170x270mm), half dark green morocco with corners, cover preserved (late 19th century binding). 72pp; illustrated cover and title page, each page lithographed in black. Spine unstained, spinebands worn, foxing at the beginning of the book. First edition of Töpffer's "literature in prints". It follows the comic and absurd adventures of Monsieur Pencil, a naïve and clumsy character whose far-fetched inventions and improbable encounters provoke him. The printed cover bears the address of the Cherbuliez bookshop in Paris. Important signed autograph ex-dono from Joan Ruskin Severn to John Alexander Fuller Maitland (1856-1936). The latter was a great British music critic and a notable rediscoverer of Henry Purcell. Joan Ruskin Severn (1846-1924) was the cousin of poet and art historian John Ruskin, a celebrated collector and supporter of Pre-Raphaelitism, and the wife of Impressionist painter Arthur Severn. Numerous portraits of her photographed by John McClelland are held at the National Portrait Gallery. Provenances : - Wüthrich (bookplate) - J.A. Fuller Maitland (bookplate) - John Ruskin (bookplate)