Stevie Smith (1902-1971)
71 original drawings, illustrations for her poems, n.d. [c.1937-1957]
Various sizes, depicting animals, birds, children, male and female figures, largely executed in ball-point pen on fragments of paper, often the versos of letters or drafts, one bearing in pencil the draft of an apparently unpublished poem, the majority attached to plain white sheets (c.253 x c.204mm) on which Smith has written the title of the poem and in many cases instructions to the printer regarding the situation of the illustration on the page, marked for press in other hands with block and page number. Provenance: Sotheby’s, 29 & 30 June 1982, lots 613 and 615.

A large collection of original illustrations by Stevie Smith, intended to illustrated her poems: some were included in collections that appeared between 1937 and 1957, including Not Waving But Drowning, but many remain unpublished. The poems which these drawings were intended to accompany appeared in the collections A Good Time Was Had By All (1937), Tender Only to One (1938), Harold's Leap (1950) and Not Waving but Drowning (1957). Only a small number of the drawings are reproduced in the Collected Poems. Two of the drawings bear different titles from those in the Collected Poems: that headed 'How far Can You Press a Poet' accompanies 'From the Coptic', and 'O Happy Dogs of England' illustrates 'O Pug'.

Smith illustrated all her poetry collections with her own idiosyncratic line drawings, reminiscent of Edward Lear and James Thurber.