Palmer, Samuel (1805 – 1881) – ‘The Bellman’ (L.11); an illustration to Milton’s ‘Il Penseroso’.

'The Bellman' (L.11); an illustration to Milton's 'Il Penseroso'. Etching. 1879. State VII of VII. Printed from the original plate by Sir Frank Short, Martin Hardie and F. L. Griggs in 1926. Edition of 60. This print illustrates the lines 'Or the Bellman's drousie charm / To bless the dores from nightly harm'. The main inspiration for the village here is Shoreham. In a letter to P. G. Hamerton, Palmer made clear just how much it is a work of nostalgia ... '... It is a breaking out of village-fever long after contact - a dream of that genuine village where I mused away some of my best years, designing what nobody would care for'. This is one of the five prints by Palmer that Short, Hardie and Griggs pulled impressions of in 1926, the year of the famous V&A Palmer exhibition. The original, uncancelled, plates had been sent to Griggs by A. H. Palmer. The impressions are particularly fine and widely admired. 6.5x9 inches.