George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 2
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 3
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 4
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 5
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 6
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 7
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 8
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 9
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 10
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 11
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 12
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 13
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 14
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 15
George Heriot - Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed - Image 16

George Heriot – Scrap Album of Canadian Interest (19th century): Attributed

£2,500.00

1 in stock

Scrap Album of Canadian Interest – nineteenth century – with some watercolours and drawings attributed to George Heriot (1759–1839)

Research and Attribution

We are greatly indebted to the Canadian historian Kerry Abel, who has devoted a considerable amount of her own time researching this album. Her work has resulted in two papers on the subject: “Decoding the Mystery Scrapbook” and “George Heriot and his Niece.”

The St Lawrence Watercolour

Among the album’s prints and drawings is a fine unsigned watercolour showing redcoat soldiers on the St Lawrence River. Our initial view was that Elizabeth Simcoe painted the picture, partly because she spent a considerable amount of time on the river and the album was purchased in Herefordshire where she once lived.

However, after consultation with Kerry Abel and a review of the broader evidence within the album, George Heriot now appears to be the most likely artist. The evidence also suggests that Heriot’s niece, Sophia Jane Turner Guy (1802–1888), was probably the keeper of the album.

Further Information and Copyright

Images of the complete contents, together with copies of Kerry Abel’s two papers, are available on request to anyone interested in purchasing the album.

Please note that all images and text are subject to copyright and must not be published without prior permission.

Album

Condition: Separated into three sections due to spine damage; general age-related wear.

Cover size: 10 1/2 x 7 ¾ in.

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Heriot, George (1759-1839)

Description

Contents
Pages:
1. Study of Four Figures
Four cut-paper figures applied to the first album page. Watercolour attributed to George Heriot.
2. Logogriphes and Prints
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes — French word puzzles — with four small prints, including Scott’s Life of Napoleon.
3. Logogriphes and Houses of the Nobility
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes with eight small prints titled Houses of the Nobility.
4. Blank Page
Watermarked GREEN 1819.
5. Pink Moss Rose
Watercolour, possibly after John Edwards’s A Collection of Flowers, with plates dated 1783–95.
6. Lake Scene
Lake scene attributed to George Heriot. Monochrome wash with point of brush and framing lines. 7.4 x 11.1 cm.
7. Logogriphes
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes.
8. Blank Page
Blank.
9. Logogriphes and Prints
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes with two small prints, A Country House and Abbey.
10. Blank Page
Blank.
11. Ten Commandments and Charles Grey Portrait
Pen-and-ink Ten Commandments on yellow paper, with letters infilled by fine inscriptions. Accompanied by a lithographic portrait of Charles Grey (1764–1845).
12. Blank Page
Blank.
13. Small Prints
Four small prints, including a portrait.
14. Logogriphes, Animal and Fishing Prints
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes with four small prints of dogs, cats and fishing scenes.
15. Blank Page
Blank.
16. Pink Rose
Watercolour, possibly after John Edwards’s A Collection of Flowers, with plates dated 1783–95.
17. Acrostic Engraving
Acrostic poem-puzzle 19th century engraving using a popular devotional poem by William Browne (1590–c.1645).
18. Blank Page
Blank.
19. Blank Page
Blank.
20. Logogriphes
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes.
21. Blank Page
Blank.
22. French-Canadian Figures and Fishmonger Scene
Recto: French-Canadian habitant figures, including one sleeping with a paddle; pencil on white wove paper. Verso: Fishmonger scene in pen and ink.
23. Blank Page
Blank.
24. Blank Page
Blank.
25. Blank Page
Blank.
26. Figures by a Fence
Verso: figures beside a fence and basket of produce. Pen and black ink on cut white wove paper, applied to the album page.
27. Emblem of France
Emblem incorporating French revolutionary symbols; pen and blue monochrome wash on white wove paper.
28. Logogriphes and Country Estates
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes with four small prints of large country estates.
29. Blank Page
Blank.
30. Blank Page
Blank.
31. River St Lawrence Watercolour
Verso: watercolour over pencil on laid paper, attributed to George Heriot. Inscribed R. St Lawrence lower right. 15.7 x 23.6 cm.
32. Passionflower
Botanical study, possibly after John Edwards’s A Collection of Flowers, with plates dated 1783–95.
33. Persicaria sp. Knotweed
Watercolour copied from John Edwards’s A Collection of Flowers. The printed version appears as Persicaria sp. Knotweed, Folio 47.
34. Barry Edward O’Meara Label
Verso: printed label signed by Dr Barry Edward O’Meara (1783–1836), Napoleon’s physician on St Helena. The label gives his London address as 16 Cambridge Terrace.
35. Engraved Prints
Five engraved prints, including a portrait of Samuel Drew.
36. Rembrandt Portrait
Wood-engraved portrait of Rembrandt captioned Painted by Himself, possibly from The Illustrated London News.
37. Blank Page
Blank.
38. Young Soldier
Watercolour, pencil and bodycolour on white wove paper. Inscribed S or J Keightley Lt Col Delt. The uniform suggests a grenadier of the Queen’s Royal (West Surrey) Regiment, c.1812–16.
39. Common Wallflower and Sketches
Recto: watercolour of a common wallflower, possibly after John Edwards’s A Collection of Flowers. Verso: sketches of flowers, a butterfly and a globe.
40. Logogriphes
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes.
41. Blank Page
Blank.
42. Logogriphes
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes.
43. Blank Page
Blank.
44. Logogriphes
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes.
45. Morning Glory
Watercolour, possibly after John Edwards’s A Collection of Flowers, with plates dated 1783–95.
46. Blank Page
Blank.
47. Logogriphes
Two finely decorated handwritten Logogriphes.
48. Blank Page
Blank.

Inverted Engraving Section

The series of biblical engravings begin from the back page rather than the front. From this end, it contains a substantial sequence of 165 hand-coloured engravings depicting biblical scenes. The series extends 23 pages beyond page 48 onto the inside page of the back cover.

The prints are based on paintings by the Old Masters, including Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, Raphael, Carracci and Holbein, among others. They appear to have been cut from inexpensive magazines or compendiums that did not survive well and thus are not widely available in collections today.

Christ Chapel Hymn

A hymn sheet was found between two of the album pages. It was printed for the opening of Christ Chapel, Mary-le-bone, and was intended to be sung on Sunday, 5th of October 1834.

Kerry Abel’s research indicates that the chapel was built in 1833/4. Its founders were Lt Col the Hon. James Stewart and Frederick Madan.

James Stewart (1783–1836) was an army officer with Canadian connections. Through his brother, Charles James Stewart (1775–1837), he also links indirectly to George Heriot: Charles James Stewart was the second Anglican Bishop of Quebec and travelled through Upper and Lower Canada as a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel from 1807, exactly the same time in which Heriot was active there.

Brand

Heriot, George (1759-1839)

George Heriot (1759–22 July 1839) was a Scots-Canadian civil servant, author and artist, best known as an important figure in early Canadian art. Born in Haddington, Scotland, in 1759, Heriot was the eldest child of John Heriot, the town’s sheriff clerk, and his wife Marjory. The family belonged to the long-established Heriots of Trabroun, whose best-known member was the seventeenth-century goldsmith and philanthropist George Heriot. He was educated at Duns, Coldstream Grammar School and Edinburgh Royal High School, where he received a classical education from 1769 to 1774. He then remained in Edinburgh, studying art with the encouragement of Sir James Grant. In 1777 Heriot went to London, apparently to pursue an artistic career, but instead sailed to the West Indies. The reason for the change is unclear, though his father’s business failed that year and his younger brother John left university to join the Army. Heriot wrote and sketched extensively in the Caribbean and, after returning to London in 1781, published A Descriptive Poem, written in the West Indies. He later enrolled at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where Paul Sandby taught him landscape drawing and painting, then considered essential to military education. By 1783 Heriot had left the academy but remained at Woolwich as a civilian Army clerk. In 1792 he was posted to Quebec as a clerk in the ordnance office. His arrival in Canada began a 25-year association with the colony. Little is known about his first years there, although surviving sketches show that he travelled around Quebec and Montreal, and he published one sketch in the winter of 1792. In 1796 he returned to Britain, travelling along the south coast and in Wales before spending several months at the University of Edinburgh. After preparing paintings for exhibition at the Royal Academy, he returned to Canada. After returning to Quebec, Heriot was appointed assistant storekeeper general, a senior post he may have obtained through the influence of his younger brother, the journalist John Heriot. He held this role alongside his existing position and drew both salaries until 1799, when the commander-in-chief discovered the arrangement and removed him from the newer post. Through family connections, Heriot had also met William Pitt in London, whose influence helped secure his appointment in October 1799 as deputy postmaster general for British North America. He replaced Hugh Finlay, who had lost government support after serious financial difficulties. Heriot later failed to gain Finlay’s former seat on the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, a setback that permanently damaged his relationship with Lieutenant Governor Robert Shore Milnes. Heriot approached the postal service role energetically, seeking to extend faster and more reliable mail beyond the Quebec-to-Montreal route and into newly settled areas of Upper Canada. He soon faced administrative and financial obstacles: new services had to be self-supporting, and profits could not be reinvested locally. With support from local authorities, including Peter Hunter, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, he nevertheless achieved a limited but noticeable improvement in western postal services by 1805. Heriot later became increasingly at odds with the administration and resigned in 1816. He returned to Britain, where he lived in retirement.

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