The National Portrait Gallery, Volume 1 (of 2)
London: Cassell and Company, 1901. Hardcover. Full leather. Vol. 1: 318 pp. Many bw illustrations. VG-, some wear to extremities. Item #217778.14
No. 324 of 750 copies. With the engraved bookplate of Mary Hunter, and also the bookplate of Newhouse Gallery, who no doubt acquired her library and imported it to New York after her death in 1933. Mary Hunter, née Smyth (1856-1933), was the wife of Charles Hunter, a Northumbrian coal-owner, and a sister of Dame Ethel Smyth, the composer. She was one of the outstanding 'Beauties' of her period and a famous hostess who entertained extensively both in London and in her country house, Hill Hall, near Epping, including among her guests many leaders of the literary and artistic world. Sargent painted her portrait in 1898 and a group portrait of her three daughters, 'The Misses Hunter', in 1902 (both pictures are now in the Tate Gallery [N04469 and N04180]); it was probably through him that she met Rodin, though they also had other acquaintances in common. He stayed with Mrs Hunter on several occasions during his visits to London, and in the autumn of 1914 he and Rose Beuret were at Hill Hall for several weeks as refugees.
Price: $250.00