1875. An album dated 1875 featuring the work of the “Beehive Club”, with over 150 uniform postcard sized watercolour and pen works, gathered into themes. The output of a very talented, most likely youthful, or at the very least gleefully amateur, Victorian sketching club, possibly executed via correspondence, each member being given a brief to work with, and the results being carefully added to the album.

The artworks are arranged around a regularly changing theme, often literary, such as

works centered on Longfellow’s “Evangeline”, or Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”, and sometimes the themed suites are broader and open to interpretation, as in the collection merely entitled “Winter”, or the section titled “Ruins.” Most of the offerings are titled and captioned in red ink, in one hand, presumably that of “M.B.O.” who seems to have had the duty of being club archivist, carefully initialling each work according to artist (“E.D.”, “M.P.K.”, “F.M.B.” etc.), recording the theme or subject in an elaborate gothic script, and who is clearly the custodian of the album.

The subject matter and the execution of each theme suggest both young girls and boys contributed, the accuracy of girls and boys individual pursuits being depicted gives at least some indication of diversity within the club. The level of sophistication varies, although the standard is consistently pretty high, and the results are impressive. The mediums employed oscillate between some sparse pen and ink work, to some very sophisticated watercolours and ink wash work. A complete and wonderful body of work, spanning all capabilities from unashamedly enthusiastic to conspicuously professional. Such albums are scarce in such a complete and “finished” state.