Brighton, by Osbert Sitwell and Margaret Barton, published 1935 (Faber & Faber) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2769] & The Keep [LIB/503764]
Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, by Rotha Mary Clay, published 1941 (Faber and Faber)
Review by A. E. [Arundell Esdaile] in Sussex Notes and Queries, May 1942:All who are interested in the antiquities of this county know of the Burrell MSS. in the British Museum's Department of Manuscript, which were the first of the many topographical collections to be acquired by the national library, and the abundant and beautiful drawings by S. H. Grimm which are included in them. And that Grimm worked in Sussex not only for Sir William Burrell but also for Richard Gough is known by the Sussex portion of the Gough Collection in the Bodleian, of which the Rev. Dr. H. Wellesley published a list in S.A.C., vol. iii. But, in spite of the short article in the D.N.B., the extent and variety of Grimm's work can have been little appreciated, well-known and in request as it was in his own day.
Now we have a full and fully illustrated account of the life and work of this admirable artist, who illustrated the first edition of White's Selborne, and whose drawings are to be found in most of the great collections; in the British Museum, for example, is the collection formed by Dr. Kaye, of Lincoln, for whom Grimm travelled all over England (including Sussex) and made drawings of antiquities and also scenes of life which are to-day of no less interest. The Burrell MSS. are so well-known that Miss Clay reproduces hardly any Sussex drawings; but her large selection gives an excellent idea of the range of Grimm's travels and talent.
Born at Burgdorf, near Berne, in 1733, Grimm made his name on the Continent before migrating to England at the age of thirty-five. He was lucky in that Berne was an artistic and literary centre, and he illustrated Gruner's Eisgebirge des Schweizerlandes and for the publications of Holzhalb and Guttenberg, at first in ultra-romantic style (as were his early verses, on which Dr. Paul Girardin contributes a chapter), but later in the quiet and pastoral manner characteristic of his work in England; some of these imitate the vignettes found in the pretty Parisian books of the day, and indeed much of the engraving from his drawings of this period was carried out in Parisian ateliers. To Paris he naturally gravitated, but only spent three years there, making friends with the well-known engraver J. G. Wille, and touring and sketching in Normandy, the Pas-de-Calais and Flanders.
Grimm's English period, from 1768 to 1794, coincided with the nascent vogue of the picturesque, and with the lives of generous patrons, as well as with the Exhibitions of the Royal Academy, founded in the year of his landing, and of the Society of Artists. He quickly made a reputation and also friends in England, for he seems to have been of a singularly modest and amiable character. Then there were the print sellers to work for ; and with one of these, Samuel Sledge, in Southampton Street, he lodged for many years, leaving Mrs. Sledge a legacy of his tools as well as of money. The quantity of work he produced, not mere sketches but careful and minute drawings, often with figures, is prodigious. We owe to Grimm a vast amount of knowledge of our homes as they were a century and a half ago, and of our ancestors themselves, which without his observing eye and delicate pencil would have perished.
By the kindness of the publishers we are able to reproduce as the frontispiece to this number (unfortunately not in the fine collotype of the book) two of Miss Clay's illustrations, one being one of the three Sussex drawings she reproduces, and the other an example of Grimm's scenes of life.
Now we have a full and fully illustrated account of the life and work of this admirable artist, who illustrated the first edition of White's Selborne, and whose drawings are to be found in most of the great collections; in the British Museum, for example, is the collection formed by Dr. Kaye, of Lincoln, for whom Grimm travelled all over England (including Sussex) and made drawings of antiquities and also scenes of life which are to-day of no less interest. The Burrell MSS. are so well-known that Miss Clay reproduces hardly any Sussex drawings; but her large selection gives an excellent idea of the range of Grimm's travels and talent.
Born at Burgdorf, near Berne, in 1733, Grimm made his name on the Continent before migrating to England at the age of thirty-five. He was lucky in that Berne was an artistic and literary centre, and he illustrated Gruner's Eisgebirge des Schweizerlandes and for the publications of Holzhalb and Guttenberg, at first in ultra-romantic style (as were his early verses, on which Dr. Paul Girardin contributes a chapter), but later in the quiet and pastoral manner characteristic of his work in England; some of these imitate the vignettes found in the pretty Parisian books of the day, and indeed much of the engraving from his drawings of this period was carried out in Parisian ateliers. To Paris he naturally gravitated, but only spent three years there, making friends with the well-known engraver J. G. Wille, and touring and sketching in Normandy, the Pas-de-Calais and Flanders.
Grimm's English period, from 1768 to 1794, coincided with the nascent vogue of the picturesque, and with the lives of generous patrons, as well as with the Exhibitions of the Royal Academy, founded in the year of his landing, and of the Society of Artists. He quickly made a reputation and also friends in England, for he seems to have been of a singularly modest and amiable character. Then there were the print sellers to work for ; and with one of these, Samuel Sledge, in Southampton Street, he lodged for many years, leaving Mrs. Sledge a legacy of his tools as well as of money. The quantity of work he produced, not mere sketches but careful and minute drawings, often with figures, is prodigious. We owe to Grimm a vast amount of knowledge of our homes as they were a century and a half ago, and of our ancestors themselves, which without his observing eye and delicate pencil would have perished.
By the kindness of the publishers we are able to reproduce as the frontispiece to this number (unfortunately not in the fine collotype of the book) two of Miss Clay's illustrations, one being one of the three Sussex drawings she reproduces, and the other an example of Grimm's scenes of life.
Regency Furniture, 1800 to 1830, by Clifford Musgrave, published 1961 (London: Faber and Faber) accessible at: & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Adam and Hepplewhite and other neo-classical Furniture, by Clifford Musgrave, published 1966 (223 pp., London: Faber and Faber) accessible at: & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Life in Brighton from the earliest times to the present, by Clifford Musgrave, published 1970 (503 pp., London: Faber and Faber, ISBN-10: 0571092853 & ISBN-13: 9780571092857) accessible at: & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
East Sussex, by W. S. Mitchell, published 1978 (192 pp., Faber & Faber, ISBN-10: 0571107516 & ISBN-13: 9780571107513) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500164] & R.I.B.A. Library & East Sussex Libraries
The World of the Changing Coastline, by Jill Eddison, published 18 June 1979 (144 pp., Faber and Faber, ISBN-10: 0571113761 & ISBN-13: 9780571113767)