The main series in this collection contains 1142 drawings and three paintings by the artist and author Charles George Harper (1863-1943). Harper was a prolific travel writer, journeying around the country by foot and bicycle and recording the sights he saw. The drawings in the collection form a small part of his original work, the remainder of which seem to have been dispersed. Many of these drawings were used to illustrate his books, including 'Mansions of Old Romance', 'The Great North Road', Cycle Rides Round London', 'The Bath Road', 'The Cambridge, Ely and King's Lynn Road', 'The Dover Road', The Portsmouth Road', The Hastings Road', 'The Manchester and Glasgow Road', 'The Norwich Road', and his coast series, including 'The Somerset Coast', The South Devon Coast', The North Devon Coast', 'The Dorset Coast', and 'The Kentish Coast'.
The illustrations record significant buildings such as cathedrals, churches, country houses and manor houses, alongside street scenes and village views. Harper also had an eye for the obscure, and recorded interesting or unusual structures that he came across on his travels. The collection also includes sketches of people, designs for the title pages and frontispieces of his books, and copies of engravings and paintings by earlier artists.
The second series contains watercolour paintings and drawings by the artists William Alexander, Sir H Englefield and others showing ancient crosses in England. There are also twenty-five photographic prints, and loose notes, extracts, cuttings and correspondence, on the same subject. This material appears to have been collected by C G Harper to aid his research for a publication on Ancient Crosses, which does not seem to have been completed.
Provenance : C G Harper was an artist and illustrator whose work was much publicised between the 1920s-1940s. A number of his artworks have been accessioned into the RCHME Drawings Collection.
Source: Historic England Archive
Artist: Harper, Charles George
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