Herbert Gilchrist drawings of George Eliot's childhood home.

Five pen and ink drawings of George Eliot's childhood home, Griff House, and other related scenes in Warwickshire. Two drawings are signed. Each drawing approximately 16cm by 25cm. Drawings have the following captions: "Griff House - the old kitchen garden"; "The garden of the 'Hall Farm' (in Warwickshire)"; "Griff Farm - the old farm entrance"; ""The 'Hall Farm' - the exterior of which served as a model in Adam Bede"; "The Canal near `Griff Hollows` - the `Red Deeps` a very familiar spot to George Eliot in her youth".

Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist was a British painter who was the son of the author, Anne Burrows Gilchrist (1828-1885). He also contributed entries to the Dictionary of National Biography and was the author of Anne Gilchrist, her life and writings (1887), edited by Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist, with a prefatory notice by William Michael Rossetti.

Open for research although at least 24 hours' notice is required.

George Eliot and her husband G. H. Lewes rented Brookbank from Anne Gilchrist (Herbert Gilchrist's mother), where they lived in 1871 while Eliot was working on Middlemarch. Gilchrist hoped that these drawings would be included in the biography of Eliot by her second husband, John Walter Cross, which was published in 1885.

https://archives.libraries.london.ac.uk/Details/archive/110052944#

https://archives.libraries.london.ac.uk/Details/archive/110052944#

Correspondence by Gilchrist relating to his sketches of Griff House is held at the National Library of Scotland (reference NLS MS4456, f212).