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TUNNICLIFFE, R.A,; C[harles] F[rederick] **: : THE PEREGRINE Sketchbook

LONDON.EXCELLENT PRESS,1996.

ISBN 1900318024.

UK,slim Folio HB+dw/dj,1st edn. [Text and ilustrations are from 'Shorelands Summer Diary' and 'My Country Book' and illustrations from Charles Tunnicliffe's sketchbook are reproduced by permission of the executors of the Tunnicliffe estate.Photography of the sketchbook was authorised through the co-operation of the Oirel Ynys Mon,Anglesey - a modern gallery at Llangefni,Anglesey,where there is a permanent display of Tunnicliffe's  work.] FINE+/FINE-.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,wrap-around cream background with a double-lined red border to a colour pictorial illustration of a sitting, resting peregrine to front panel of dw/dj,with capitalised,brown-lettered 'THE',red-lettered 'PEREGRINE' and black-lettered 'Sketchbook' to title and capitalised,black-lettered author's name; spine/backstrip withbrown-lettered 'THE' of title,capitalised but red-lettered rest of title - 'PEREGRINE SKETCHBOOK',capitalised, brown-lettered author name and publisher's capitalised,light brown-lettered name to foot of same,rear panel plain with b/w barcode and red+brown-lettered publisher details. Negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - majority of light creasing and slight curl of same to top edges - inevitable age-acquired light,superficial scoring/indents to either panel - but without penetration to boards beneath,and a small closed tear to front,top corner tip of dw/dj.Top+fore-edges bright and clean without foxing/spotting; contents bright, tight,clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unnread apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright,crisp,unblemished, sharp-cornered,original maroon cloth boards without titleing to spine/backstrip,and immaculate plain pale grey endpapers.UK,slim Folio HB+dw/dj,1st edn,6-79pp [paginated] includes reverse of title page with a b/w illustrated map of Anglesey,a prose extract of Tunnicliffe's (Bird Portraiture),an Introduction by Robert Gillmor,Diary date entries accompanied with bird b/w thumbnal portraiture illustrations and full page bird portrait colour illustrations throughout the text and the book,'The Anglesey Peregrines' by Derek Ratcliffe and a Select Bibliography; plus [unpaginated] half-tilte with b/w thumbnail bird illustrations and an epigram (John Walpole-Bond,1914.),a b/w Tunnicliffe wood-cut illustrated title page,with Acknowledgements to its reverse,Contents list/ table and b/w Tunnicliffe illustrated Introduction,The Peregrine Sketches and The Anglesey Peregrines, individual separator pages.  Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional,and particularly internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation for a book of its 25+ year-old age.It is only the minor exterior faults that prevents a slightly higher overall grading.Despite them,it really is still an exceptional,exemplary example for its cleanliness,brightness and lack of major detracting faults.                                One early summer day on a routine birdwatching trip to the seacliffs of north west Anglesey the artist Charles Tunnicliffe came upon a nesting pair of Peregrine falcons. The sight of these magnificent birds thrilled him. For the following weeks he was to concentrate on drawing the falcons, recording their flight, their brooding and rearing of two chicks and the final departure of the family in some of his finest sketches.                                        This book includes all the colour illustrations Tunnicliffe made when, inspired by the beauty and grandeur of his subjects, he filled his sketchbook with one marvellous painting after another. His diary of the days with the falcons is reproduced alongside the pictures. The introduction by a well-known bird artist of today, Robert Gilmor, puts Tunnicliffe's work in context, and in an authoritative summary Dr. Derek Ratcliffe, author of the standard monograph on the Peregrine, discusses the history and conservation of the Anglesey birds.  Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe [1901-79] was raised on a small farm in Langley,near Macclesfield,Cheshire.The only son of hard-working country people,he was expected to take over his father's smallholding,but his precocious talent as an artist set him apart and in turn took up a scholarships at Macclesfield School of Art (1915-21) and to the Royal College of Art and came to London in (1921-25) where he was taught etching by Sir Frank Short.After leaving college he shared lodgings with Eric Ravilious.Taught part-time at Woolwich Polytechnic (1925-29); returned to Macclesfield and from then on (apart from a short period teaching at Manchester Grammar School during the 1940s) worked full time as a freelance painter, printmaker and draughtsman in pencil,pen and ink and scraperboard.He specialised in birds,animals and rural landscapes,and initially much of his work consisted of advertisements for veterinary products and animal feeds,but he soon made his anme as a more serious illustrator with wood engravings for Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter (1932)He subsequently illustrated six of Williamson's other books,but eventually found it impossible to remain on friendly terms with the author. Altogether he worked on over 90 books by nearly 40 different authors and editors,such as Alison Utley ['Country Hoard,1943 up to and including 'Secret Places',1972], Negley Farson ['Going Fishing',1942], Richard Church ['Green Tide',1945 and many others.He also produced several classic books of his own - My Country Book,Mereside Chronicle and his masterpiece Shorelands Summer Diary.His biographer,Ian Niall,observed that 'what Tunnicliffe had above all was a determination to succeed at whatever he took on.He had the undoubted talent of being able to illustrate what he knew about and what the customer asked for.'                          His achievement as a wild-life artist,in particular as a bird artist,is of major importance.Turning to the study of birds in the 1930's,he devoted months at a time,year in,year out,to observing and sketching his favourite species,first on the Cheshire meres and nearby moors,then in Anglesey,his home from 1947 until his death in 1979. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,that stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of any inexpensive book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,slim Folio HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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