Lot 897: The love letter

J.M. Balliol Salmon (1868-1953) The love letter signed and dated 'Balliol Salmon 08' (lower left) pencil, black ink, watercolour and bodycolour 8½ x 7½ in. (21.6 x 19.1 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 29 March 1996, lot 45 (sold for £2,400).

Balliol Salmon is described by Simon Houfe in his Dictionary of British Book Illustrators (1978) as one of the best pencil and chalk artists to work for the press in the Edwardian period. The son of a surgeon and barrister, he studied art under Fred Brown at the Westminster School and afterwards at Julian's in Paris. He followed a career as both a teacher and a full-time illustrator on The Graphic, living in Glasgow and Bedford Park, London.