Item 793 - Album of sketches by Henry Elliott Fox

1 volume of 124 leaves, quarter-bound in red cloth and red leather, with an additional jacket of brown leather. Sketches on small pieces of paper are pasted to most of the leaves. A loose single sheet is inserted inside the front cover, and another is attached by a strip of paper to the back of the front free endpaper.

The sketches in this book were made by H. E. Fox in 1862 and 1863, while he was a undergraduate at Trinity College. The sketches, which were made on loose pieces of paper, were presumably pasted into the book either by him or his friend G. F. Cobb, who wrote an ownership inscription inside the front cover in October 1863. The earlier drawings may have been put in the book by, or at, this time, but those dated in November and December that year were of course added later.

The book apparently remained in Cobb's possession till his death in 1904. Two years later his widow presented it to his friend Fox, and it was still in the possession of the Fox family in 1948, when Fox's son H. W. Fox transmitted it to someone named Nellie (see the letter inserted in the front).

The book was purchased by the Library from Hawleys Auctioneers Ltd on 6 September 2025.

Hawleys Auctioneers Ltd

The title on f. 1r is ‘Book of Rydal Cartoons, drawn by H. E. Fox. (Trin. Coll.).’ and the binding is labelled 'Tibbiana' on the front. The significance of the latter is unclear. On the back of the front free endpaper are the inscriptions: ‘G. F. Cobb. Trin. Coll. Cambridge. Oct. 1863.’ and ‘Given to H. E. Fox by the Widow of his dear friend Ap. 1906.’

Most of the sketches are dated. The earliest date that appears is July 1862, and the latest December 1863, but it is possible that some of the drawings towards the end of the book were made early in 1864.

The earliest dated sketches (ff. 2r–4r) were made in July and August 1862 during an expedition in the Lake District, and those on ff. 5v–6v (and probably the one on f. 5r) were made in the same place in January the following year. Most of the rest (f. 7r onwards) were made either during a third visit to the Lake District between July and September 1863 or at Trinity College in November and December that year. These include, at the end (ff. 105r–112r), a humorous alphabet, dated in November. Many of the sketches relate to private jokes, the points of which are now obscure.

The leaves are foliated from 1 to 124.