[Boyle, Eleanore Vere] Original Archive Art and 45 Proofs Chiefly relating to "Child's Play." Association Copy Presented to her Teacher, William Boxall, in 1852 (at 27 years old)

Offered here is a stunning 48 piece archive of Eleanore Vere Boyle (1825-1916), housed in a full cloth with gilt cover, likely by the publisher, a folio-size folding case which has gilt lettering "Child's Play," (originally published by Addey & Co, 1859 and one of her most famous books). With an original drawing "Here we are on Tom Tickler's ground/Picking up gold and silver!," circa 1852, pen & gray ink on paper, mounted on card, depicting a number of small girls in the countryside picking flowers, with goats and trees in the background, penciled caption lower right, sheet size 17 x 13cm, together with two other small sketches by the same artist, (truncated) one of a small girl cradling a dove, pencil and red ink on card, edges irregularly cut, sheet size 10.5 x 9.5cm, and the other of Madonna and Child within an architectural setting, red ink and watercolor wash on card, with colored paint blotches beneath, trimmed to top and left-hand edge (latter with 1" closed tear), sheet size 20 x 7cm, plus a folder of approximately 45 prints and engravings of illustrations by Boyle, many relating to Child's Play, some spotted, some mounted. INSCRIBED BY BOYLE on front pastedown "William Boxall Esqre. from EVB his grateful pupil Feby 1st 1852," a full seven years prior to its publication. The "Tom Tickler" drawing is one of seventeen drawings Eleanore Vere Boyle executed for her first book 'Child's Play', a compilation of nursery rhymes published in 1852 (the same year as the inscription to William Boxall, her early teacher and mentor (see below). Considered one of the most important female illustrators of the mid 19th century, Boyle moved in artistic circles which included Charles Eastlake, Thomas Landseer, the Pre-Raphaelites, and Sir William Boxall (1800-1879), Boyle's teacher and mentor, who was an English painter and director of the National Gallery from 1866 to 1874. There are 20 large proofs mouned on similar paper, and some with edit notations by Boyle for the publisher. Of note: there are two examples of the title-page, one a more simplified version, and the other with an additional drawing that is to become the final printed copy for the book. Most proofs are in very good to near fine condition; often with foxing on mounted sheets that don't affect illustration. A few of the minor proofs have more substantial foxing. Other proofs of illustrations round out this amazing survival, a truly significant treasure trove of one of the most belove children's illustrators of the mid to late Nineteenth Century in England. (Inventory #: 6720)