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Call Number:
MSS 13
Creator:
Backhouse, Edward, 1808-1879
Title(s):
Album of etchings, drawings, and lithographs by Edward Backhouse and others
Date:
1819-1856
Classification:
Archives and Manuscripts
Series:
Series I: Albums
Part of Collection:
Vol. 1
Provenance:
Acquired 2009, Paul Mellon Fund.
Conditions Governing Access:
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use:
The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Scope and Content:
The album includes etchings and lithographs by Edward Backhouse, together with work by other family members, presented "to his dear nephew, Edward Backhouse Mounsey, 1855." This was the year in which he married Katherine Mounsey, and having no children of their own, probably saw young Edward as the son he never had. On the following leaf he has written, "Sketches from Nature by Edward Backhouse, mostly taken in 1829." There are 224 separate items including several original watercolors. This album gathers together a comprehensive collection of Edward Backhouse's private and public work, much of which is very ephemeral and possibly unrecorded elsewhere. It starts with examples from when he was just 12 years old, and shows him as a gifted watercolor artist, skilful etcher and engraver, and early exponent of lithography. Work by Edward Backhouse includes (but is not limited to): several drawings and numerous fine etchings of birds; several drawings and many etchings of varied animals (including tigers, a weasel, warthog (?), stag, lion, elephant, bull, polar bear, rhinoceros, and seals); numerous drawings, etchings, and lithographs of ships of all sorts; landscape etchings and lithographs, including scenery from the Swiss Alps. Work by Edward Backhouse Mounsey includes: numerous drawings and etchings of ships and marine scenes; etchings of animals; etchings of landscapes. Contributions from other family members are much less frequent. They include work (in varied media) by Lucy Backhouse Backhouse, T.J. Backhouse, A.B. (presumably Ann Ford Barclay), Homasia Bardon, W. Davison, J.C. Mounsey, Thomas Mounsey, Susan Pease, and Jonathan Richardson. There are also a number of unsigned works. and The album includes etchings and lithographs by Edward Backhouse, together with examples from other family members, presented "to his dear nephew, Edward Backhouse Mounsey, 1855." This was the year in which he married Katherine Mounsey, and having no children of their own, probably saw young Edward as the son he never had. On the following leaf he has written, "Sketches from Nature by Edward Backhouse, mostly taken in 1829." There are 224 separate items including several original watercolours, and the album also contains work by his nephew Edward, W. Davison, Homasia Bardon, J.C. Mounsey, Susan Pease, Eliz. B. This album gathers together a comprehensive collection of his private and public work, much of which is very ephemeral and possibly unrecorded elsewhere. It starts with examples from when he was just 12 years old, and shows him as a gifted watercolour artist, skilful etcher and engraver, and early exponent of lithography.
Physical Description:
1 v. (76 leaves, with blanks) ; 36 cm
Genre:
Marines (Visual works), Botanical illustrations, Children's art, Etchings (prints), Graphite drawings, Pen and ink drawings, Juvenilia, Landscape drawings, Lithographs, Printing plates, and Watercolors (paintings)
Subject Terms:
Animals in art
Art, Amateur
Birds in art
Etching
Quakers
Ships in art
Associated Places:
Great Britain
Associated People/Groups:
Backhouse, Edward, 1808-1879
Backhouse, John Mounsey
Backhouse, Lucy Backhouse, 1812-1872
Backhouse, Rachel, 1826-1898
Backhouse, Thomas J. (Thomas James), 1810-1857
Backus family
Barclay, Ann Ford, 1822-1913
Barclay, Elizabeth Gurney
Cave, Henry, 1779-1836
Davison, W.
Mounsey family
Mounsey, Edward Backhouse, 1840-1911
Mounsey, J. C.
Mounsey, Thomas, 1793-1850
Pease, Susan
Pike, Lydia
Richardson, Jonathan, 1802-ca. 1880
Sparkes, J. M.
Finding Aid Title:
Backhouse and Mounsey collection
Archival Object:
https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/1115
Metadata Cloud URL:
https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/1115?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1