J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

The sketchbook is made up of loose sheets, folded in half and fastened together with two bent pins. Twelve sheets of approximately 360 x 300 mm were cut in half to form twenty-four sheets of approximately 180 x 300 mm each. These were then folded together (with the cut edge at the foot of the page) to create forty-eight sheets of approximately 180 x 150 mm. The twelve pages were evidently cut together, as the shape of the cut line in each of the four groups of twelve folios match each other. The watermarks and countermarks also match each other within the four groups. Folios 1–12 (D26966–D26984) therefore carry the bottom half of the Hanoverian coat of arms watermark, while the top halves of the watermark are on folios 37–48 (D27029–D27045). The countermark ‘BOOTH | 1828’ is also divided, with ‘BOOTH’ on folios 25–36 (D267010–D267028) and ‘1828’ on folios 13–24 (D26986–D27008).

Peter Bower, who has studied Turner’s paper and sketchbooks, suggests that the sheets may not have been pinned until after Turner had completed his sketches, arguing that on folios 17 and 17 verso (D26994, D26995) ‘the pencil goes deeper into the fold than would be possible if the pins had been present.’3 Even if this were the case, however, the sheets were certainly already folded into a book and probably used in the order in which they appear, as the sketches that overlap do so on opposite pages (for example folios 30 verso–31; D27019–D27020). John Ruskin’s note on the wrapper of this sketchbook (no longer with the book) – ‘Difficult to manage as it is but hardly worth separating. If shown as it is, it must be bound.’ –4 tells us that the sheets were never separated. Bower has not been able to identify the paper maker, and suggests that the countermark may indicate that the paper was made by a mill for a stationer called Booth.5

The poor quality of the paper, and lack of covers or professional binding, suggests that Turner was short of paper by the time he reached Fort William, and had to make do with the writing paper that was probably all he could find at the time. He had already had to supplement the sketchbooks which he had brought from home with others bought during his tour. The poor quality of the Sound of Mull no.1 (Tate D26936–D26948; D26950–D26954; D41019–D41020 complete; Turner Bequest CCLXXIV) and Sound of Mull no.2 (Tate D26955–D26965; D41021–D41022 complete; Turner Bequest CCLXXV) sketchbooks suggest that they were also bought on the road. When Turner reached Inverness he bought a new sketchbook: Inverness sketchbook (Tate D27046–D27225 complete; D41038–D41039; Turner Bequest CCLXXVII).

Because it seems never to have had covers, the sketchbook has suffered a little from wear and tear. The jagged edge of the paper at the foot of the book is due mainly to it being roughly cut down from larger sheets. Use by the artist and the 1928 flood at the Tate Gallery have added to this damage. A few pages have small tears, one of which (folio 7; D26974) certainly took place before the book was examined by Ruskin, who wrote the page number to the left of the tear. The dirt on folios 1 (D26966) and 48 verso (which serve as the outside front and back covers) probably occurred during the book’s initial use, and was compounded by the 1928 flood which also left stains on some of the pages, especially visible on the front and back of the book, and at the foot of folios 12–14 and 31–34 (D26984–D26988, D27020– D27026). Most of the pages are also slightly crinkled as the result of getting wet. Wrinkles near the bottom of folios 34–36 (D27026–D27028) are either the result of water damage, or may be original irregularities in the paper. Further evidence of the flood is the pink stains around Ruskin’s red ink page numbers, some of which are almost washed away. Ink has also bled through from the rectos to the versos of each page, leaving a pink smudge at the top left of each verso. Apart from this the paper is in reasonably good condition considering the flimsiness of the book. This is because the book has only been exhibited once (see the exhibition history for this work), and is rarely written about, so has probably not been examined many times.