[ DANIEL, Harriett] Manuscript drawing book ; “ My dear daughter Harriett’s Drawing Book. G Daniel , Canonbury” to recto of first leaf and “ Began this book the 11th September 1829. Circa 80+ drawings in ink and pencil on 40 leaves [ plus a few blanks], each drawing captioned in ink [ possibly in an adult hand]. Recently re- bound by us in full sprinkled calf, the spine in six compartments, blank ruling to boards. Blue marbled pastedowns and ffep retrieved from the previous broken binding. Damp staining throughout. The book covers two years, 1829 and 1830, with a handwritten inscription beginning each section. This is an utterly charming little book, very much reflecting Georgian rather than Victorian sentiment in the choice of subjects for the drawings. Some unusual drawings include: A Worldly Bishop and a Godly Curate; Debby kissing her donkey; Stephen Kemble; Doc Syntax, the loss of a lap dog; Shooting at a frog; A Wine Merchant; A Gamester; Travelling: What can’t be cured must be endured; Thrashing the horse [ etc]. We think that the captions might have been written by her father, who we have identified as George Daniel, [1789-1864] living at 18 Canonbury Square in Islington, London. His family origins were Huguenot [ from his father Paul Danieli] and he seemed to have worked as a clerk to a stockbroker in Tokenhouse Yard, later becoming an accountant. He was an author, poet and playwright, and a friend of Charles Lamb and Robert Bloomfield. Daniel was a well-known bibliophile, and he collected a large library, with considerable holdings of Shakespeare including copies of the first four folio editions and the “ cassolette“, a carved casket made out of wood from the mulberry-tree in Shakespeare's garden which was given to David Garrick. He had a large collection of black letter ballads, as well as drama and theatre materials some of which was sold at auction by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge at his death realising over £15,000. We have found an example of Daniel’s handwriting which can be compared with the inscription in the book.
We have not been able to find out about his wife or family, and the link to Harriett is from the inscription. If the captions were written by her father George, it suggests that father and daughter spent time together discussing the works and possibly choosing the subjects together from the library of an extraordinary bibliophile.
