Autograph letter fragment with illustration, by Punch artist Harry Furniss n.d.

FURNISS, Harry. (1854-1925). Autograph letter fragment with original pen-and-ink caricature, n.d.
 
Single leaf (approximately 110 × 170 mm), written in ink on laid paper. The surviving leaf is the illustrated page only, the remainder of the letter having been removed by a previous collector; old mounting dominates the verso. The recto displays a pen-and-ink sketch by Furniss of a woman’s profile, begun and then deliberately cancelled with emphatic strokes, accompanied by the manuscript caption “I’ll imagine — no I can’t!” Signed by Furniss at foot.
 
An example of Furniss’s informal letter-drawings, self-conscious and humorous in intent, preserved by a previous owner for the original sketch and autograph rather than the text. Furniss (1854–1925) was a British illustrator and political cartoonist, closely associated with Punch and with the illustration of Lewis Carroll’s Sylvie and Bruno.