MONUMENTAL POPE

POPE (ALEXANDER, 1688-1744, poet, translator of the classics, authority and consultant on gardens and grottoes) THE CELEBRATED AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, INCORPORATING THE DESIGN FOR HIS FAMILY FUNERARY MONUMENT, with the lettering for the monument inserted in majuscules in Pope's 'print' hand and the sidenotes and letter in his normal hand, addressed to the sculptor [Francis] Bird, asking him to 'forward' the monument 'as above drawn...entirely [in] white Marble' as soon as possible, taking particular care that the letters of the inscription be ranged just as they are above 'with ye Space of two Lines left void in ye middle, & ye space of one line at ye End, in which spaces there are future Insertions to be made' [for himself and his mother], 1 page, quarto, three-quarters of the page taken up with the design and scale below, contemporary endorsement 'Mr Popes Directions in his own Handwriting for his Fathers Monument', overall light browning, laid down at the edges, formerly in the collection of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., no place [Twickenham], no date [Sherburn suggests ?1720]

Until recently it has always been assumed that the design, lettering and text of the letter were all in Pope's own hand. The suggestion has lately been made, however, that the design (but not the lettering) is by the architect James Gibbs. This proposal is based on the quality of the drawing being too good to be by an amateur, Pope's receipt of a letter from Gibbs [undated but placed in ?1719 by Sherburn] about some designs ('...the designes shall be ready for you to approve or disapprove...') and Pope's known connection with Gibbs, who worked on the poet's villa in Twickenham.

Sir Howard Colvin, who has kindly inspected the manuscript, states that the drawing is not by James Gibbs, citing in particular that Gibbs had a highly idiosyncratic way of marking off the scale which is not in evidence here and that, in his opinion, the drawing is not beyond the capabilities of a reasonably competent amateur, especially in the eighteenth century. At least one line in the drawing of the pediment cannot easily be recognised as accurately representing a plane in architecture.

Pope certainly had the draughtsmanlike skills to have produced the drawing. Throughout his life, from the age of five or six, he took an interest in art, and in drawing in particular. In his youth he worked in the studio of Charles Jervas and produced portraits of Betterton and Swift which rival the achievements of many a jobbing professional. His general fastidious 'correctness', his highly-acclaimed calligraphic talents, the surviving autograph floor-plan sketch for his own grotto (now in the Harvard Library) and references to drawings produced by him in connection with gardens (for instance the 'sheaf of drawings' he made for Lady Mary Churchill in 1734) all support the probability that he produced the present drawing himself.

Pope's beloved father, also Alexander, died on 23 October 1718 and was buried three days later in Chiswick. Pope did not move to Twickenham for a year after his father's demise and it was in the north aisle of the parish church there that the monument was raised at some unspecified time, so there is no need to assume that the monument had to have been put up at the time of the elder Pope's death, or to meet any particular deadline. The poet makes it clear in the present letter that while principally dedicated to his father, as was the custom, the monument was for the whole family (though he later erected an obelisk to the memory of his mother in his garden). There is also no reason to link the monument with the designs that Gibbs had for his approval; they are just as likely, if not more so, to have been connected with his house. Credence should be given to the contemporary endorsement, presumably in Bird's hand: 'Mr Popes Directions in his own Handwriting for his Fathers Monument'.

The present manuscript would seem, therefore, to contain only the second known architectural drawing by Pope.

(The Correspondence of Alexander Pope, edited by George Sherburn, 1956; G. Sherburn, The Early Career of Alexander Pope, 1968; Maynard Mack, Alexander Pope, 1985; F. Bracher, 'Pope's Grotto: the Mazy of Fancy' and A. Altenbernd 'On Pope's "Horticultural Romanticism"' in Essential Articles for the Study of Alexander Pope, edited by M. Mack, 1968)

£6,250