Early Illustrated Autograph Letter, written over several weeks, Signed 'Byam' to "My dear 'Stacie'" (John Byam Liston Shaw, 1872-1919, Painter, Illustrator, Designer and Teacher, commonly known as "Byam Shaw")

saying that she "will think me a very wicked youth not to have written before but in consequence of my large correspondence &c &c &c. I went to the pantomime at Drury Lane yesterday with Glencavin & Mary, it's 'Puss in boots' you know, it was fearfully fine. I have an oil painting & a set of Xmas cards in an exhibition in Derby they are the first things I have ever got into an exhibition...", the next part starts that it seems "I should never finish this letter but I really must. try and get it done today. I have just bought a 'topper'!...", here he has put a pen and ink self portrait showing him wearing a caped overcoat and top hat, next to another one of him playing the piano and singing, the next part says "I seem as if I should never go on with this... I will finish it today. Glen has bought an American Organ with some money that a Mr Brown sent her, I am tryig to learn to play it (see illustration) I suppose you are broiling while at this present moment it is pouring here. I don't know quite whether I sent you one of these photos of the 'Stuffed Pig' or not however I am sending one now..." with illustrations of Stacie sitting in the sun and Byam in the rain, he ends with the wish that "if you are writing to Pudds you wd tell her I am awfully sorry not to have written but you see what a short time I havae taken to write this, however, I have finished it at last you see. Good bye dear Stacie, I hope you are flourishing...", with a final picture of a horse carrying a banner with the word 'love', 4 sides 8vo., 103 Holland Road, 15th and 29th January and 3rd March the face is missing from the first drawing because of the ink wearing through the paper Byam Shaw was born in Madras; his father, John, was the registrar of the High Court at Madras. The family returned to England in 1878 where they settled in Kensington, living at 103 Holland Row. He showed early artistic promise, and in 1887 his work was shown to John Everett Millais, who recommended that the 15-year-old should enter the St John's Wood Art School. Byam Shaw was an astonishingly versatile artist. Influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, he worked variously as a painter, illustrator and cartoonist, and as a designer of stained glass, sets and costumes for the theatre, and even a tapestry for Morris & Co. Equipped with a strong sense of design and a bright palette, he was equally well suited to work in black and white and in colour. Enthusiastic and good-humoured, he was also able to communicate his many skills to others, becoming an influential teacher, and opening a school that long bore his name. At the outbreak of the First World War Byam Shaw enlisted in the Artists Rifles although Shaw soon transferred to the Special Constabulary. He produced war cartoons that were published in many newspapers and also found work with memorial commissions. Not long after the war ended, Shaw collapsed and died at age 46 in the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic and was interred at Kensal Green Cemetery.