Dorothy M.T. Colles Anthology Manuscript in Painted Binding

About the Item

This elegantly decorated Florentine album belonged to the young Dorothy Colles, who received it as a present in 1931 when she was 14 years of age. On the cover Colles notes "This book was Aunt Dorothy's: Granny gave it to me in 1931. Mummy had it made for her in Florence. I was called after her." As stated on the first page Colles began writing in the album in December of 1932 and collected, in her own very neat hand-writing, an anthology of disparate verses and quotes by a range of authors: Keats, Graves, from Shelley, Kipling, Coleridge, Plato.... and ends abruptly mid-sentence with what seems like ink running out (fainter letters at the end). Colles, Dorothy Margaret Tyas (1907-2003). Painted binding – Her Anthology, manuscript poetry. c 1931. 8vo, 7 3/8 x 5 1/2 in (187 x 151 mm); 82 pages of which 66 with hand-writing and 16 blank; Hand-made Florentine album with heavy hand-made paper stitched and bound into a contemporary vellum cover, hand-painted and highly decorated, brown leather straps with woven white leather ribbons, limp leather ties, woodblock endpapers with green motif. Cover somewhat thumbed but solid with no color losses, pages bright and clean. Hand writing in different color inks. Binder ticket on front pastedown, Alfonso Dori, Florence, with pen inscription about the origin of the gift in 1931. Dorothy Margaret Tyas Colles (1917–2003), was an artist in oil, pastel and pencil, notable for portraits, mainly of children. She was born in Cairo, Egypt, where her father worked as a forensic scientist and medical school professor for the Egyptian government. When her father retired and returned to England she studied at the Westminster School of Art before World War II. Between 1940–45 she served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in the United Kingdom and the Middle East. After hostilities, she worked in Egypt for the Egypt Exploration Society and for the Jordanian government before returning to London, after which she freelanced. Colles was a member of the Pastel Society, also exhibiting at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Royal Academy. She wrote and illustrated Portraying Children 1956, and in 1971 published Christian Symbols Ancient & Modern with Heather Child, the artist and calligrapher, who was a lifelong companion.

Dimensions:

Height: 7.38 in (18.75 cm)Width: 5.5 in (13.97 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Leather,Paper

Place of Origin:

Europe

Period:

1930-1939

Date of Manufacture:

1931

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.