Hornseys - the gallery

29/05/2026

A fascinating autograph letter by Lady Charlotte Canning, written from Simla on 20 May 1860.

As the wife of Lord Canning, the first Viceroy of India, Charlotte Canning became the first Vicereine of India and remains one of the most important female observers of the British Raj.

This unpublished letter contains references to illness in Simla, severe weather in the Himalayan hill stations, the “extraordinary outrage at Mauree” in which a European official was reportedly flogged by natives, and political troubles in one of the neighbouring hill states.

An unusually rich and historically revealing manuscript offering a glimpse into the social and political world of British India only a few years after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Now available on our website priced at £495:

https://hornseys.com/product/canning-lady-charlotte-1817-1861-autograph-letter-signed-c-canning-to-mr-bowring-simla-20-may-1860/

29/05/2026

A scarce and highly evocative piece of T. E. Lawrence ephemera.

Issued by The Leicester Galleries, London, this exhibition notice announces the February 1927 exhibition of the original paintings, drawings and woodcuts created for the legendary Cranwell (Subscribers’) Edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Printed in 1926 in a total edition of just 211 copies, the Cranwell Edition remains one of the great achievements of twentieth-century private press publishing. This notice links directly to the exhibition of works by Augustus John, Eric Kennington, Paul Nash, William Roberts, Frank Dobson and William Rothenstein prepared for that extraordinary publication.

A fascinating survival from the immediate aftermath of Lawrence’s masterpiece and an uncommon piece of Lawrence of Arabia history.

Now available on our website priced at £900:

https://hornseys.com/product/t-e-lawrence-seven-pillars-of-wisdom-cranwell-edition-exhibition-notice-1927/

29/05/2026

A fascinating piece of Lawrence of Arabia history now available.

This scarce 1927 exhibition catalogue was produced for the Leicester Galleries exhibition of paintings, pastels, drawings and woodcuts illustrating T. E. Lawrence's monumental work 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. The exhibition featured works by Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Paul Nash, William Roberts and other leading British artists associated with Lawrence and the Arab Revolt.

The catalogue includes prefaces by both Bernard Shaw and T. E. Lawrence, together with a contemporary advertisement for Revolt in the Desert, published just weeks later.

An uncommon and highly desirable item linking Lawrence of Arabia, modern British art, and one of the most celebrated books of the twentieth century.

£295

https://hornseys.com/product/t-e-lawrence-seven-pillars-of-wisdom-exhibition-catalogue-1927-leicester-galleries/

26/05/2026

Medieval King Arthur manuscript could fetch £2m at auction

Book containing early versions of the Merlin and Grail legends has remained in private hands for 700 years

23/05/2026

A superb signed photographic postcard portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, boldly signed in blue fountain pen ink and originating from the celebrated Steve Forbes Churchill Collection.

We are also fortunate to hold a substantial group of additional Forbes Churchill material, including items from the noted Robert P. Hastings collection together with original correspondence between Hastings, theGrolier Club and renowned autograph dealer Kenneth W. Rendell concerning Churchill collecting and exhibition material.

An exceptional piece of twentieth-century political and autograph history with outstanding provenance and remarkable display appeal.

Now available on our website priced at £1950

22/05/2026

One of the things that is easy to forget when looking at an original Gould plate is just how technically sophisticated these works really are.

This superb Black Stork lithograph from The Birds of Europe (1832–1837) was created through an extraordinary collaboration between three remarkable figures:

Edward Lear — only around twenty years old when Gould first commissioned him — drew the image directly onto lithographic stone with astonishing precision and delicacy.

John Gould supplied the scientific direction and artistic vision that transformed natural history illustration during the Victorian period.

And the print itself was produced by Charles Joseph Hullmandel, the greatest lithographic printer in Britain, whose mastery of tonal lithography allowed Lear’s subtle feather textures and atmospheric modelling to survive on paper with extraordinary fidelity.

The hand-colouring was itself an immense and highly skilled undertaking. Gould is said to have employed many of London’s finest professional colourists to complete his great folio works, with every sheet coloured individually by hand. Achieving convincing tonal variation across dark iridescent plumage such as this — while preserving the delicacy of Lear’s lithographic line beneath — required extraordinary technical control.

These were not reproductive posters or mechanical copies. They were original lithographs, printed from hand-drawn stones and individually coloured by hand nearly two centuries ago.

The achievement becomes even more extraordinary when one considers that Lear, Gould and their colourists worked entirely without electricity, relying solely on natural light to draw, print and hand-colour these immense plates.

By observing the plate you can still see the remarkable control of line, tone and observation that went into its making — especially in the richly coloured plumage, subtle iridescence and finely scaled legs.

Many modern “limited edition” prints are technically far less demanding than these early Gould/Lear productions.

This original hand-coloured lithograph from John Gould’s monumental Birds of Europe is now available from our website priced at £650

https://hornseys.com/product/black-stork-ciconia-nigra-bellon-original-lithograph-edward-lear-john-gould-1832-1837/

21/05/2026

A superb original hand-coloured lithograph of the Whistling Swan (Cygnus ferus, Ray), historically associated with what is now known as Bewick’s Swan, from John Gould’s monumental Birds of Europe (1832–1837).

Beautifully drawn and lithographed by Edward Lear, who was only around twenty years old when Gould first commissioned him for his great ornithological publications. Lear’s work for Gould remains among the finest achievements of nineteenth-century natural history illustration.

This elegant large-folio plate combines scientific precision with remarkable decorative beauty, depicting the swan amongst reeds at the water’s edge in a wonderfully atmospheric composition.

Fresh original hand-colouring and excellent scale throughout. In very good indeed condition overall.

Sheet size: 53.7 cm x 37 cm.

Now available on our website priced at £1250

https://hornseys.com/product/whistling-swan-cygnus-ferus-ray-original-lithograph-edward-lear-john-gould-1832-1837/

21/05/2026

A remarkable surviving archive of Northumberland political ephemera.

We are currently cataloguing an important collection of more than sixty Georgian election broadsides, handbills and printed notices relating to the celebrated Northumberland county election of 1826 — one of the most fiercely contested and expensive elections of the Georgian period.

The campaign involved Lord Howick, Matthew Bell, H. T. Liddell and T. W. Beaumont, generated enormous political controversy, and ultimately culminated in the famous duel fought on Bamburgh Sands between Beaumont and John Lambton, later Earl of Durham.

Many of the broadsides appear to be unrecorded institutionally and together they provide a remarkable insight into Georgian political culture, electoral propaganda, provincial printing, and the political networks surrounding Earl Grey and early Reform-era politics.

We are currently preparing a detailed catalogue of the collection and are considering offering the archive as a complete research collection.

Further items from the collection will be added to our website soon.

20/05/2026

A fine piece of nineteenth-century Northumberland ephemera now available — an 1850 Alnwick auction broadside advertising the sale of a substantial house at the corner of Fenkle and Narrowgate Streets, then occupied as a Savings’ Bank.

The notice records the sale taking place at the Star Inn, Alnwick which is no longer in existence. Printed by G. Pike of Alnwick in bold display type, the broadside combines strong decorative appeal with genuine local historical significance.

Research suggests the broadside is apparently unrecorded institutionally, making it an unusually scarce survival of provincial printing and Northumberland property history.

Priced at £125 and now available on our website in the ephemera category.

20/05/2026

An extraordinary and apparently unrecorded Victorian Northumberland broadside relating to the death of Police Sergeant John Hately following the Alnwick riot of 1875.

This rare printed subscription sheet, issued for the support of Hately’s widow and children, records donations from across Alnwick and the surrounding district in the aftermath of one of the most serious public disturbances in nineteenth-century Northumberland.

We have been unable to trace another institutional copy in the British Library, WorldCat, or Library Hub databases, suggesting that this remarkable survival may be unrecorded institutionally.

A fascinating piece of Victorian policing, social history, and Northumberland ephemera.

This item will be available on our website very soon.

19/05/2026

A remarkable and apparently unrecorded survival of nineteenth-century Northumbrian history.

This rare 1836 Alnwick broadside announces the auction sale of the remains of the celebrated “Boome Tree”, described as “A Relic of the Days of our Forefathers” and believed at the time to date from the reign of Edward IV.

Research has revealed that the Boome Tree was a well-known ancient ash tree standing near St Michael’s churchyard in Alnwick, reportedly blown down during storms on Ash Wednesday, 17 February 1836 — only a day before this auction notice was printed.

Institutional searches have so far failed to trace another recorded copy, suggesting that this broadside may be unrecorded in major public collections.

Provincial broadsides of this nature were intended for temporary public display and rarely survive, making this an evocative and visually striking piece of early Victorian local history and printing.

This fascinating piece of Northumbrian ephemera will be available on our website soon.

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