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

With the page turned vertically, Turner has noted the following above the prominent printed label pasted to the centre of the page:

The illegible word is partly rubbed and worn away; it is very short, ending in a letter with a long tail, and may simply be ‘my’. For more on Turner’s finances as set out in the extensive notes in this sketchbook, see the Introduction.

The shield-shaped, engraved label pasted lengthways onto the endpaper is surmounted by a Prince of Wales crown and ostrich feather crest and a scroll inscribed: ‘Manuf[actu]rer to His Royal Highness the P[rinc]e of W[ales]’. The rubbed and partly obliterated text continues:

Technical notes:

The endpaper is pasted over a simple pocket constructed integrally with the inside of the front cover, into which Turner inserted four loose papers (see the Introduction to the sketchbook). There is dark staining around the outer edges from the leather overlaps. The paper has developed a bulge over the pocket and its contents, causing localised abrasion against the opposite page, particularly affecting the label described above.

This sketchbook is unique in the Turner Bequest in being composed of ‘velvet paper’, with a soft, flock-like surface. The collector Sir Thomas William Holburne (1793–1874) used a similar book for pencil and watercolour sketching in Scotland in 1828 (Holburne Museum, Bath); its label is worded identically except for being headed ‘PHELPS | Original Manufacturer of | HALLS’S | Much Approved ...’ and concluding ‘... Exportation | by J. PHELPS & Co. | At the Manufactory | 27, PATERNOSTER ROW.1 On his 1830s voyage in the Beagle, the scientist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) used six comparable notebooks (classed as ‘Type 5’; English Heritage, Down House), bearing labels without a manufacturer’s name but with similar wording:

Of Darwin’s notebooks it has been observed: ‘Although the writing ... looks at first like graphite pencil it is in fact a reaction between the metal of the pencil point and the chemicals with which the paper was treated. This was meant to render the writing indelible.’3 The combination of prepared paper and a stylus is akin to traditional metalpoint drawing techniques.4 Turner appears not to have followed the maker’s instructions, leaving many of his conventional pencil drawings and inscriptions badly rubbed over time, even if this effect was not immediately apparent while he used the book. He also tried watercolour on folio 40 verso (D08347).

Peter Bower has read the last word of the label’s penultimate line as ‘Fourdrinier’ and infers a reference to the Hertfordshire papermakers of that name.5 Although the lower part of the ‘E’ and the subsequent letters are rubbed away, the word does appear to end in ‘tation’, making ‘Exportation’ the likeliest reading, corresponding with the wording of the Holburne example.