THE NINETEENT H CENTURY
CH AR LES DOY L E Charles Altamont Doyle (1832-1893) Charles Doyle was one of the most distinctive fairy painters of the Victorian period, at turns high-spirited, sharp-witted, disturbing and melancholy. However, he was little known in his lifetime, at first overshadowed by his brothers, and later confined to a series of psychiatric hospitals.
For a biography of Charles Doyle, please refer to The Illustrators, 2009, page 10. His work is represented in the collections of the V&A; and The Huntingdon Library (San Marino, CA). Further reading: Michael Baker, The Doyle Diary, London: Paddington Press, 1978 (a facsimile of Charles Doyle’s sketchbook for 1889); Rodney Engen, Michael Heseltine and Lionel Lambourne, Richard Doyle and his Family, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983; Daniel Stashower, Teller of Tales. The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle, London: Penguin Books, 1999; Robert R Wark, Charles Doyle’s Fairyland, San Marino: The Huntingdon Library, 1980
Nos 06-12 are taken from a sketch book of the 1880s, which is inscribed ‘Ida with Mama’s love’ and dated ‘11th April 1899’ on the inside front cover. Ida was the nickname of Doyle’s youngest daughter, Jane Adelaide Rose.’
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06 OTIAM CUM DIG SOFA AS I CAN SEE WAYWARDNESS QUEER PLANT MAXIMUM IN MINIMUM IF A GENTLEMAN COULD FLY, HOW HE WOULD LOOK TO GO AHEAD, INFLAME BEHIND inscribed with titles pen and ink 7 x 6 1⁄2 inches