John Ruskin

Series of 13 auto𒅌graph letters signed, to James Verity

on coin collecting for himself and for the St George's Museum, Sheffield ("...your letting us have these coins enables me to complete what I hope will be a very precious piece of early elementary teaching for the good🍸 people of Sheffield..."), discussing a range of English gold and silver coins from the Saxons to the Stuarts with the excitement of a born collector ("...The coins are safe here - and intensely delightful to me - I want to look at them with a less dazzled mind..."), ꦰ27 pages, 8vo, headed stationery of Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire, 13 June 1880 to 29 October 1886, with 12 autograph envelopes 

Ruskin's correspondent was James Verity (1845-1910), a coin dealer in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. He was principally collecting for St George's Museum but, like many a collector before and since, he found himself drawn into a fascinating new subject, making it increasingly hard for him to part with particularly prized pieces ("...I told🌜 you I had sent the Edward 3rds to Sheffield but, as I have examined them further, I find so much to be studied that I want to keep them for myself..."). Details of Ruskin's acquisitions on behalf of the museum are recorded in the Catalogue of the Ruskin Museum in Meersbrook Park, Sheffield (now in Sheffield's Millennium Galleries).

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby's, London, 22 February 1972, lot 629; Dominic Winter Auctions, 12 Sept🍒ember 2009, lot🌊 457