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CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 1
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 2
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 3
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 4
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 5
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 6
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 7
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 8
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 9
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 10
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 11
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 12
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 13
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 14
CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET) Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, Henry S. King & Co., 1875 image 15
Lot 9

CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET)
Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY CAMERON TO HENRY IRVING, 1875

10 – 20 March 2025, 12:00 GMT
Online, London, Knightsbridge

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CAMERON (JULIA MARGARET)

Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, [First volume], FIRST EDITION, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PRESENTATION COPY TO HENRY IRVING, inscribed on endpaper "Henry Irving from Julia Margaret Cameron. A small token of infinite admiration & respects, June 2d., [18]75", 13 large albumen prints by Cameron (including portrait frontispiece of Tennyson, as the so-called "Dirty Monk"), each captioned, with copyright details and signature of Cameron beneath image, all mounted on thick card as issued, variable toning and fading, each with accompanying lithographed facsimile leaf of Tennyson's poetry written out in Cameron's hand, later paper guards, the dedication leaf amended by Cameron in ink, light spotting to title, modern half morocco gilt over original green cloth by T. Freeman of Oxford (gilt-stamped inside upper cover), title in gilt on upper cover, g.e., solander box [Gernsheim 585], folio (440 x 330mm.), Henry S. King & Co., 1875

Footnotes

RARE WORK ILLUSTRATED WITH THIRTEEN FULL-PLATE PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE PIONEERING FEMALE PHOTOGRAPHER, WARMLY INSCRIBED TO HENRY IRVING.

Julia Margaret Cameron was a neighbour and close friend of Tennyson on the Isle of Wight. In 1874 he suggested that she make some illustrations for a new "popular" edition of his poems on Arthurian legends, The Idylls of the King. Eventually only three of Cameron's pictures were used, as woodcuts and in a reduced size. Undeterred Tennyson then suggested she produce a work illustrated with her full-size prints alongside excerpts from his poems. This first volume, prepared for Christmas 1874 "did not achieve the commercial and critical success Cameron had hoped for", but a second volume followed in May 1875. "Cameron made the most of this opportunity to demonstrate that photography was the equal of any other form of book illustration. The results provide a convincingly human and contemporary interpretation of the dense mythic world of Arthurian legend" (Cox and Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron. The Complete Photographs, 2003, p.468).

Henry Irving (1838-1905) was the most celebrated actor of his day, "whose performance as Hamlet had been the inspiration for Tennyson becoming a playwright" (Cox and Ford, p.34). He supported Tennyson's early efforts for the stage, with productions of three of his tragedies, Queen Mary (1876), Becket (1879), and The Cup". In October 1875, four months after inscribing the book for Irving, Cameron left England for Ceylon.

Provenance: Henry Irving, presentation inscription from Julia Margaret Cameron dated 2 June 1875 on endpaper; private English collection.

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