Description
Here is a unique Roycroft Guest book, quite special in that it is filled with original portrait drawings by well-known portrait artist William Homer Leavitt. Leavitt must have been acquainted with the Roycrofter Hubbards, as the first drawing is of Elbert Hubbard’s first wife–titled “Mrs. Elbert Hubbard, Bertha Hubbard, E. Aurora, NY, 1901”. Other names represented in the book include Percy Williams, Ella Stansifer, William Thomas, Oberlin Ohio, Seth Houghton, Artist, John Peak, Druggist, E Lenore Harpster, Poet, Alta Beall, Nora Wright Sullivan, Georgiana Frances, Pauline Broughton, Margaret Hiestand, and many more. The post-Bertha drawings are all from 1910, mostly in Ohio and Indiana locations, so Leavitt must have put the book away for years before taking it up again–probably not coincidentally, these intervening years were when he met and later divorced from the daughter of high-profile politician William Jennings Bryan. The portraits measure about 5″x8″ and possibly they were preliminary studies for larger portrait paintings. There are also two pieces laid in the back, one portrait and one small study of 3 faces on an envelope labeled “Negroes at Oberline Ohio”. All in all, about 34 more elaborate drawings and about 8 that appear unfinished.
The book is in good condition overall, with the front hinge starting to detach at the bottom and some light wear/discoloration to the suede cover.
