[H. Lawrence Christie | Illuminated mss on Vellum] Ode on Intimations of Immortality

Wordsworth, William. Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. Illuminated calligraphic manuscript on vellum by H. Lawrence Christie (with his initials to the bottom of the title page); title page and 12 pages of text, with 5 total blank pages. Initials in shell gold, floral decorations as borders on three pages, a 1/3-page goauche drawing of a child running through flowers, and two 1/3 page goauche images of bucolic scenes within liquid gold frames. Bound in full brown morocco with gilt lettering to front cover with three small fish stamps below. Vellum pastedowns. Five bands to spine with all compartments ruled in gilt. (Binding is unsigned, but at least one other Christie mss that was exhibited by Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society was bound by Peter McLeish.) Some natural rippling, browning, and discoloration to the vellum (see images--all pages with text have been photographed). Light rubbing to binding, some staining to front cover.

H[enry] Lawrence Christie (1873-1941) was an accomplished illuminator, calligrapher, stone carver, and painter, along with a founding member of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators in 1921. Christie was a member of Edward Johnston's first class at the Central School of Arts Crafts, along with Noel Rooke, Eric Gill, Graily Hewitt, and T.J. Cobden Sanderson (among others). Christie worked alongside Graily Hewitt and Edward Johnston for much of his career, with at least one period exhibition of their collective work in 1913 (The Studio). Christie and Johnston also worked together on the roll of honour commemorating the British librarians who fell in the Great War (British Library).

Christie exhibited with the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society in five of their exhibitions--over the span of 1903-1916--with illuminated manuscripts, paintings, and stone carvings. He also had several illuminated manuscripts included in the Royal Academy of the Arts Winter Exhibition in 1922.