On offer is an original sketch book by William Timlin measuring 25.5 x 18.5 cms. and with circa 30 leaves of 'drawing paper', most of which bear either rough sketches or signed and titled completed ink or pencil drawings, a few of which are of frameable quality. There are a few blank/unused pages. The rear pastedown bears Timlin's signature. This is an early sketchbook of the artist and those drawings which are dated, range from 1909 until 1912, the year he came with his parents to South Africa at the age of about 20. The first page is a completed watercolour of a rural scene, dated 1909, which unfortunately has a small wedge missing from the lower edge. The complete signed English drawings include a charming ink drawing of 'The Sea at Brighton' and ' A Mill out of Brighton'. Two of the signed drawings are titled 'Camps Bay' and are dated 1912, possibly his earliest works done in South Africa. There are several rough preliminary sketches of rural scenes, archtectural structures, an orchestra and a few of the musicians and one fantasy sketch of a mermaid. The sketch book has been well used and the sewn binding in cloth covered boards is rather loose with one internal page having become detached. I have attached images of quite a few but by no means all of the pages and further information is available on request. A significant archival piece from the studio of the creator of The Ship That Sailed to Mars.
William Micheson Timlin (1892 - 1943) 'Was born in Ashington, Northumberland, England and studied art at the Armstrong College of Art, Newcastle-on-Tyne to which he had won a scholarship from Morpeth Grammar School. In 1912, aged about twenty, he accompanied his parents to Kimberley and was apprenticed there to DW GREATBATCH. In Kimberley he passed the South Kensington Board of Education Art examinations with Honours and in 1914 founded the Art section of the Kimberley Club. In about 1920 Timlin entered into partnership with Greatbatch (cf. GREATBATCH & TIMLIN) in Kimberley. Greatbatch left South Africa in 1921 and Timlin continued the practice in Kimberley under the same style. The firm executed a large number of buildings, not all of them very distinguished, in Kimberley. After 1921 the work of Greatbatch & Timlin should be considered to be that of Timlin. Timlin is more widely known in South Africa for his illustrations, drawings and paintings. He had a fine gift for fantasy of which the best examples were for the interior work of several atmospheric theatres in the country which provided him with a unique outlet for this talent. His most famous interior was that of the Colosseum Theatre in Johannesburg, tragically demolished with the building in 1985. He was connected with the design for the interior of the Alhambra Theatre in Cape Town, a drawing of which was published in the Architect, Builder & Engineer (Jul928:7) Today he is best known internationally for the classic book he wrote and illustrated in 1923, The Ship that Sailed to Mars, considered to be one of the great illustrated books of the 1920's. The film rights of the book were bought by a group in America, not yet identified. The film was to be called 'Get off the Earth', but was never made. In 1926 he was the subject of an article by the art critic D LEFEBVRE, published in the South African Architectural Record (Dec 1926:98-99). Timlin painted and worked in water colours and pastels, holding several exhibitions which were well received. Some of his paintings which were in the collection of the Athenaeum are now in the William Humphries Collection in Kimberley, and was chairman of the Athenaeum in its early years until its disbandment in the 1940s. He exhibited at the annual exhibitions of the South African Academy [of Arts] on a regular basis from the first held in 1919 until his death. Apart from drawing and painting Timlin wrote music and worked as an etcher and an illustrator of several more books, amongst which is Out of The Crucible by Hedley Chilvers. (see Lot 148 in this auction). In March 1934 he designed the illuminated address presented by the Municipality of Kimberley to HRH Prince George on his visit there. In 1936 he travelled to Java by way of Zanzibar, returning to practise in Kimberley where he died several years later, aged fifty-one, of inflammation of the lungs. He was reputed to own the most beautiful toy collection in South Africa.' (Artefacts, South Africa).
- Binding Condition: Fair
- Overall Condition: Good
- Size: 25.5 x 18.5 cms.
