Rare Winsor & Newton One Shilling Handbook on How to Paint Fruit and Still Life by W J Muckley with 3 Colour Illustrations and Catalogue of Colours and Material, c. 1900

‘A manual on fruit & still-life painting in oil and water colours from nature: also instructions for elementary practice preparatory to beginning to paint’, with three coloured illustrations by William Jabez Muckley. This is No. 39 from the series One Shilling Handbooks on Art which is listed on the back cover. The second half of the book is a Winsor & Newton catalogue listing their colours and material with black and white illustrations.

This is numbered twelfth thousand, dating it to very early 20th century. Despite having been published in large numbers, this is a rare book in any print run. Only one sold copy was found on the internet. Other copies are held in the Getty Museum, Historic Deerfield, Rhode Island School of Design and National Arts Education Archive. These educational ‘One Shilling Handbooks‘ were intended to help amateur artists and hobbyists who wanted to learn but didn’t attend art school.

Soft Cover, so some wear to the cover edges. Otherwise, in very good, clean condition.

Winsor & Newton are a British artists supplier. The company was founded in 1832 by William Winsor and Henry Newton. The firm was originally located at Henry Newton‘s home in 38 Rathbone Place, London. This was then part of an artists‘ quarter in which a number of eminent painters, including Constable, had studios, and other colourmen were already established. It became a limited company in 1832. In 1937-1938, the company moved to West London – a year before Rathbone Place was destroyed in the London Blitz. William Jabez Muckley was a Victorian artist, best known for his flowers and still lifes. His works may be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.