Oblong Quarto (ca. 20x28 cm). 16 card stock leaves. pp. One hundred and three watercolour sketches on paper from ca. 2x2 cm (1x1 in) to ca. 5,5x12,5 cm (2x5 in), mounted on the album leaves. All watercolours numbered in pencil, with the ink captions on the opposite leaves. Artist’s carte-de-visite mounted on the first pastedown. Period brown cloth album with gilt tooled initials “A.J.D.” on the front cover. Binding rubbed on extremities, with the spine recased. Overall a very good album with beautiful bright watercolours.

Valuable collection of 103 original watercolour designs for stained glass windows produced by the firm of Arthur J. Dix (101 Gower St., London). The designs, drawn and compiled by Dix himself, include fine examples of coat of arms, royal shields, seals and insignia, with the time frame from the Medieval English kings, to British 20th century institutions and societies. Among the designs are royal shields of kings Ethelbert, Oswald of Northumberland, Harold I, Alfred the Great, Richard II, Henry VIII; seals of Edward the Confessor, King John, the Duke of Burgundy, the City of London, the town of Hartlepool etc. There are also coats of arms of the cities of York, Leeds, Liverpool, Chester, Plymouth, Borough of Kensington, county of Lancashire et al.; Oxford and Cambridge Universities; emblems of the Company of Musicians, Society of Antiquaries, Institute of British Architects et al.

“Stained glass artist. Arthur J. Dix was based in Gower Street, London, and active from the 1890s. He, or his studio, also made work by other designers as late as 1940” (Stained Glass of Wales online).

His advertising published in the “Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench” for 1916 stated: “Designs prepared and submitted with estimates for memorial and heraldic stained glass windows, church decorations, mosaics and brasses. Arthur J. Dix, worker in stained glass, 101, Gower St., London” (p. Xix).

Dix carved stained glass windows for a number of buildings in Buckinghampshire, including town hall in his native Wycombe, churches of All Saints (Marlow), St. Peter and Paul (Medmenham), St. Mary (Slough), and St. John the Baptist (The Lee). His stained glass windows also decorate the church of St. John the Baptist (Ightfield, Shropshire), St. Dunstan’s church (Cranford, London) and others.

See more: Little, J. Stained Glass Marks and Monograms. London: National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies, 2002, p. 42.