Lot 269: TAYLER, Albert Chevallier (1862-1925, illustrator). The Empire’s Crick

TAYLER, Albert Chevallier (1862-1925, illustrator). The Empire’s
Cricketers. London: Fine Art Society, 1905. 2° (374 x 244mm). 48
chromolithographed plates after Chevallier Tayler, with descriptive
press by George W. Beldam printed on tissue guards. Contemporary
green half calf, spine gilt with repeated cricket device, top edge gilt
(rubbed at extremities, some sunfading). Provenance: K.A. Auty,
Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ontario (stamp; number ‘28.20’
written large on front free endpaper and front cover).
cricKet portraiture at its Finest, frst issued in weekly parts. With
a studio in Carlton Hill, St John’s Wood, close to Lord’s, Chevallier
Tayler was well placed to produce his portraits of cricketers in
rippling white. The drawings were executed in chalk and printed in
lithography on impressive folio size plates, an indication of the great
popularity and prosperity of the game in the Edwardian age. Whether
English or Australian, the common factor in this pantheon of players
is one of style. The attitudes are varied, but poise, ease and confdence
are common to all. Padwick 6997.