Manuscript panorama, 1841

SALA, George Augustus (1828-1895). Procession to the Christening of the Prince of Wales. [London, 1841.]

Unique, hand-drawn panorama over nine feet in length: a comic procession marking the birth of the future King Edward VII. This is a charming item of juvenile cariacature by the prominent Victorian illustrator, G.A. Sala (aka "G.A.S."), an acolyte of Charles Dickens who went on to become a founding member of the Savage Club. The panorama depicts over 70 figures beginning with three musicians, the "Boy Jones" (headed "private secretary to her Majesty," but actually a teenager who kept breaking into Buckingham Palace), the wet nurse, the dry nurse, Lords Admiralty, pages, etc., the royal family, the "illustrious infant" in the arms of the Duchess of Buccleuch, and concluding with Grandmamma, her train-bearer, and both last and least: "The Gruel Bearer." It's an ambitious and rich work from the pen of the teenage Sala, who had recently returned from a year in Paris and was soon to begin his apprenticeship in art. Sala was succesful, becoming a household name for his comic illustrations, but he was profligate and often in debt. In middle age, he gifted this panorama to his steady employer, Sir Edward Lawson, first Baron Burnham, who was editor of the fledgling Daily Telegraph. The inscription is on the verso of the first panel and reads: "This burlesque 'Procession to the Christening of the Prince of Wales' must have been drawn by me about Six and Thirty years ago, when I was a small boy. | George Augustus Sala | gave it to | Edward L. Lawson | June 19, 1877 | Some of these days it may be accounted a curiosity and fetch something at Christie's." (Time will tell.)

Manuscript panorama, pen and ink and watercolor on 27 joined panels of about 105mm length each, overall size 84 x 2875mm, backed with linen (light soiling and wear, folds rubbed with some ink loss, small tear at front panel affecting caption); tipped into a red morocco gilt folder. Provenance: Edward Levy Lawson (1833-1916; presentation inscription from the artist dated 19 June 1877).