Genevieve Ward, A Biographical Sketch From Original Material Derived From Her Family And Friends (With Long Holograph Letter About Ward Written By Alfred Darbyshire To Samuel Bancroft, Jr.)

Boston: James R. Osgood And Company, 1882. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Frontispiece Portrait. (Xvii), 261 Pp. Brown Cloth, Gilt. First Edition. Light Wear, Gilt Fairly Bright, A Little Bubbling Of Cloth, A Few Pinpoint Frays At Edges, Rear Hinge Cracked (Due To Bancroft's Personal Envelope With Thick Enclosures Tipped To Rear Endpaper), Pages Clean But A Little Aged. Ownership Signature Of Textile Manufacturer Samuel Bancroft, Jr., Of Rockford Mills, Delaware, Dated 11/22/81, And With His Large And Elaborate Heraldic Bookplate On Front Pastedown. Also With A Seven Page Holograph Letter From Alfred Darbyshire To His Cousin Bancroft, Dated September 11, 1881, Apparently In Response To Inquiries From Bancroft, Providing A Summary Of Everything Darbyshire Knew Of Mrs. Ward, Her Family And Background, And Her Current Activities. Also Included Is Bancroft's Copy Of An August 26, 1879 Cable From Ward To Derbyshire Accepting The Invitation To Speak At A Calvert Benefit; Also A Note From L. Wingfield To Darbyshire, "Good Lord! Genevieve's Biography,- All Of It? It Would Take From Here To New York" Etc., And Offering To Send Darbyshire A Copy Of This Book; Both Typed Out With An Attestation That The Originals Had Been Returned To Darbyshire. In 1880, Bancroft Was Introduced To Pre-Raphaelite English Artwork By His Cousin, Architect Alfred Darbyshire. He Fell In Love With The Art, And Once Bancroft Stepped Back From Directly Managing The Family Firm In 1889, He Began To Purchase Numerous Pieces Of Artwork. In 1880, He Was Introduced To Pre-Raphaelite English Artwork By His Cousin, Architect Alfred Darbyshire. He Fell In Love With The Art, And Once Bancroft Stepped Back From Directly Managing The Family Firm In 1889, He Began To Purchase Numerous Pieces Of Artwork. His Collection Began In 1890 With A Work By Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Whose Art And Poetry Featured Prominently In Bancroft's Further Collections Over The Next 25 Years. He Maintained Correspondence With Other Artists In The Movement, And Offered Financial Support To The Families Of Some Of Them. Bancroft Continued Adding To The Collection For The Remainder Of His Life, And Built It Into The Largest Such Collection Of Pre-Raphaelite Works Outside England. Alfred Darbyshire (20 June 1839 - 5 July 1908) Was An English Architect. He Was A Nephew Of George Bradshaw, The Compiler Of Railway Guides. Darbyshire Admired The Gothic Revival Style Of Alfred Waterhouse But Also Designed In The Neoclassical Style. Darbyshire Was A Man Of Many Talents Which Centered On The Theatre. As Well As Building Them, He Acted In Them And Became Famous For His Extravagant Stage Productions. In 1869 Charles Calvert, Actor-Manager Of The Prince's Theatre, Manchester, Employed Alfred To Redecorate The Theatre. They Became Good Friends And Alfred Assisted Calvert With The Staging Of Some Of His Great 'Revivals' Of Shakespeare's Plays. (Page 139/140, Where Ward's Productions With Calvert, Is Turned Down At A Corner By Bancroft.) In 1872 He Built A Spectacular Set For The Triumphal Entry Of The King Into London In Henry V. The Production Was Carried Through The United States And Into Australia. In New York More Than 100,000 People Visited Booth's Theatre To See The Play. As A Landscape Painter He Sketched And Painted In Italy, France, Belgium And Germany. Alfred Was An Art Critic For The Manchester Guardian, And From 1874 To 1905 He Was An Art Critic For The Courier. He Wrote A Number Of Books On Architecture, Heraldry And Art And Innumerable Pamphlets And Brochures.