Home
Finding a book:
Advanced Search
Browse
Special Book Room
Treasure Chest
Books as Gifts
Buying information:
Shipping Rates
Help
Contact Us
Reference:
Information pages
Articles
About the Business
Additional services:
Newsletters
Free Wants Matching
Books to Sell?
Book Repairs
Follow Us:
You Say...
To all the great folks at Stella Books. Thank you for the books, arrived intact and the books themselves are in fine condition. K.P. (Canada), Nov. 2012
Cecil Aldin
Cecil Aldin became a household name known for his paintings in the late 1800's. He produced a diversity of dog portraits and sporting scenes for which he had a steady flow of admirers. Less well known are his posters, chalk drawings of inns, manor houses, and cathedrals, superb equestrian pastels and, pencil & wash sketches of the countryside.
Born on 28th April 1870 in Slough, son of Charles Aldin, a builder, and his wife, Sarah. He was a wiry red-haired boy who started sketching by 6 years of age. His early drawings had a recurring theme of a rider being thrown from a horse, expressing his developing sense of humour.
He had two brothers, Arthur & Percy, and boarded at Eastbourne College on the Sussex Coast and then moved to the less expensive Solihull Grammar School when things changed financially at home.
He was not an outstanding pupil and left school at the first opportunity. His mother wanted him to enter the church. His father was an amateur artist, of which there are no examples of his work left today, and insisted Cecil be allowed to start on formal art training.
He attended the National Art Training School , South Kensington , where he was able to study anatomy of animals. He was influenced greatly by John Leech and Randolph Caldecott during the 1880's.
One teacher of his instilled in him the golden rule that the only true pictures were those drawn from life. There were plenty of dogs and horses in London at the time but Cecil wanted to try his hand at other animals also. Where to find them? He found many at Regent's Park Zoo. He turned out many drawings and stored them, like money in the bank, and the visits to the zoo helped to swell his portfolio.
Cecil had much first hand experience of animals, surrounded by horses, dogs and hounds for most of his life. He was a Master of Foxhounds, carried the horn with harriers, beagles and bassets. Money earned from his drawings was used to indulge in his second passion of countryside and the chase. He was as likely to be seen sketching from the saddle as chasing a fox, stag or hare!
In the 1890's, there was hardly one illustrated paper that he did not contribute to. His first drawing in print appeared in The Building News of 12th September 1890. He was paid 10 shillings for his drawing of 'A Chimney Corner & Polished Iron Firedogs at The Hollist Arms, Sussex'. Three months later he received 3 guineas for a drawing of dogs at a St Bernard Club's show, published in 'The Graphic', to which many of the top illustrators of the time contributed.
The turning point came when his drawings were seen by Sir Douglas Straight, editor of The Pall Mall Budget. Sir Douglas was so impressed, he asked Cecil to illustrate Kipling's 'Jungle Stories' which the magazine was to publish in serial form. In doing so, Sir Douglas gave Cecil a platform of a new work by a best-selling author, on a commission basis, providing him with financial security for months to come. These drawings were widely praised when they first appeared in 1894. Cecil received a further confidence boost with the issue of a book with dog pictures by himself called 'Spot, An Autobiography'.
A zoo drawing used in 'The Sketch' in 1895 resulted in High Court action by Gambier Bolton, a pioneer of animal photography, who alleged that it infringed his copyright. Cecil knew the animal in his drawing (a tiger) and had drawn its portrait but there was not doubt that he took the idea from Bolton 's photograph. Judgment went against Cecil and he was ordered to pay £50.
The proprietor of the Illustrated London News had faith in Cecil and during this same period of court action, 12 full page drawings were featured in the Illustrated London News, 27 in The Sketch and 32 in the English Illustrated Magazine.
Cecil Aldin died in a room at The London Clinic aged 64 in January 1935. His death made front page news on both sides of the Atlantic .
Aldin illustrated many books in his lifetime, many are scarce and collectable today. Prices range from just a few pounds for a modern reprint to several hundred pounds for a first edition with a dustwrapper and signed limited editions even more. Something for every collector's pocket!
Contributed by Sonia Bryant
Information gleaned from 'Cecil Aldin The Story of a Sporting Artist' by Roy Heron.
A selection of Cecil Aldin books in stock
Ashmore, Marion. Illustrated by Aldin, Cecil. Stock no. 1304991
Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1931. Almost very good condition with no wrapper. The adventures of an Aberdeen Terrier. Orange cloth, black titles and vignette of Scottie dog to front. Colour frontis, b/w text illustrations. 97 pages. Spine and corners bumped with some slight wear. Covers grubby. Inscription in ink to front endpaper. Foxing to contents, endpapers lightly browned. Reprint in same year as first edition. [R]
Price: £18.00
Aldin, Cecil. Illustrated by Aldin, Cecil. Stock no. 1303322
Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1st. 1931. Very good condition with no wrapper. Mr. Tickler led a hard life - he was never allowed inside Mrs. Tickler's beautiful caravan because he snored all night and sneezed all day! Then he bought a Magic Handkerchief at the fair... Delightful pastel colour illustrations. Pictorial boards and endpapers. Blue cloth spine. 91 pages. Spine bumped. Corners worn and a few other nicks at edges. Tiny booksellers sticker to front pastedown. Foxing throughout else contents clean. [R]
Price: £60.00
Aldin, Cecil. Illustrated by Aldin, Cecil. Stock no. 1302906
Humphrey Milford. 1st. 1922. Very good condition with no wrapper. Black cloth spine, pictorial paper boards. Six colour plates plust b/w illustrations. 44 pages. 'A Story in Seven Breaths'. The story of Smut, a little black puppy of the Scotch terrier breed and his six-year old mistress. Spine slightly frayed at top and bottom. Corners just a little worn and edges slightly rubbed. Covers slightly grubby. Joints cracked. Some light fingering else contents clean. [R]
Price: £210.00
Aldin, Cecil. Illustrated by Aldin, Cecil. Stock no. 1302905
Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1st. 1934. Very good condition in a good dustwrapper. Large format, beige cloth, black titles. Beautiful colour illustrations of dogs on brown art paper. Pages from Aldin's sketch books. Spine and corners bumped and slightly worn. Name in ink to front endpaper. Foxing and light browning to endpapers. Grubby dustwrapper is worn at edges and spine with loss at corners and a fair bit of loss to edges of rear panel with tape repairs (spine has much loss and is held together with tape). [R]
Price: £240.00
Aldin, Cecil. Illustrated by Aldin, Cecil. Stock no. 1302901
Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1st. 1929. Very good condition in an almost very good dustwrapper. Sleeping Partners A Series of Episodes. A series of plates by Aldin featuring what appear to be a Irish Wolfhound and a terrier. Large format. Blue boards, light blue titles. Spine bumped, corners slightly rubbed. Rear free-endpaper is creased. White pictorial wrapper is browned and foxed with slight wear to spine and corners and just a little bit grubby on rear panel. [R]
Price: £350.00
Chalmers, Patrick R.. Illustrated by Aldin, Cecil. Stock no. 1302900
Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1st. 1928. Very good condition in a dustwrapper in fair condition. Brown cloth, dark brown titles. A selection of verses which have appeared in 'Punch', all of which are about dogs. Twelve colour plates plus frontis plus b/w illustrations. 47 pages. Spine and corners bumped. Some light fingering and foxing else clean. Wrapper is badly torn with tape repairs on verso, some loss at edges and a bit grubby. [R]
Price: £180.00
View all current stock of Cecil Aldin books