H. V. Tebbs Collection of Pre-Raphaelite Photographs

Consists of a collection of mounted photographs of drawings and paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his wife Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, and a few other members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, put together for or by Henry Virtue Tebbs. Many of the mounts have been inscribed by Rossetti himself –- most importantly, items 1-18, the photographic portfolio of his late wife’s drawings, but also a good number of the \detached\ photographs. One is inscribed by Rossetti to Tebbs's wife Emily, and the letter which accompanied the gift is printed by Fredeman (see item 36 below). In addition, many of the mounts are inscribed in pencil with Tebbs's name, sometimes with reference to other collectors of the time such as Charles Fairfax Murray. It is perhaps no coincidence that a number of the originals of these photographs were owned at one point by Fairfax Murray himself. A photograph of a well-bearded man also in this collection (item 76) may be of Tebbs.Some mounts have been signed by William Michael Rossetti, but this does not mean that he owned them –- he was in effect the family authenticator as well as the family archivist, and it is likely that he signed them to indicate that they had been authorized by the family.A number of the photographs bear the stamp of Frederick Hollyer, the art photographer. He was well known for specializing in the reproduction of drawings and paintings; and many of those which do not bear his stamp may also be by him.