The collection of water colour drawings and twelve modern pictures, by the first masters : a catalogue of twelve English pictures of high merit and importance, and of a collection of water-colour drawings, the property of Charles Birch, Esq. ... : which will be sold by auction, by Messrs. Foster and Son, at the gallery ... on Wednesday, the 27th February, 1856 ... and Thursday, February 28th, 1856 ...
This is an 1856 auction catalogue issued in London by the auctioneers Foster and Son, listing twelve English pictures and a set of water-colour drawings belonging to Charles Birch for sale. The sheets are plain engraved reproductions of landscapes and genre scenes, offered for the trade and collectors rather than as a narrative book. A designer might take from them the compact, sober layout of a Victorian sale listing, with its small plates and tonal hatching of trees, sky and figures.
