Letters to Charles Augustus Howell

The material comprises: 

• (a) 193 letters (c.1861-1884) from various correspondents to Charles Augustus Howell, arranged in alphabetical order of writers. Among the larger groupings are those of George P. Boyce (numbers 8-38), Eliza Cruikshank (numbers 47-56), George Cruikshank (number 57-61), Richard Josey (numbers 89-108), George A. Lawson (numbers 110-26), Mortimer Mempes (numbers 136-45), Rebecca Solomon (number 168) and Simeon Solomon (numbers 169-82). Numbers 82-85 are from J.W. Inchbold, number 157 from Dante Gabriel Rossetti, number 158 from Maria Rossetti, number 159 from William Michael Rossetti; and number 166 from Frederic Shields;
• (b) 3 miscellaneous items, namely a copy of a letter from Howell to John Camden Hotten, n.d. (number 194), verses subscribed C.A.H. 4th January 1877 (number 195), and a letter from Maria Rossetti to Mrs (Kitty) Howell (number 196);
• (c) numbers 191-205, letters (November 1890-March 1912) from Alice M. Chambers to Fairfax Murray, many relating to Howell's literary and artistic effects. (Miss Chambers was one of Howell's executors.)

Charles Augustus Howell (1840-1890) is well-known as a shady figure in the mid-Victorian art world. He was secretary and factotum to John Ruskin, and close friend and agent to a succession of leading artists, among them Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Burne-Jones, G.F. Watts, Whistler and Sandys. William Michael Rossetti referred to him as a 'speculator and dealer of works in many kinds'. His unscrupulous and underhand dealings led inevitably to the severance of his relationships with most of the artists for whom he acted.

See Helen Rossetti Angeli, Pre-Raphelite twilight: the story of Charles Augustus Howell (London: Richards Press, 1954) .