Autograph letter signed by engraver John Bell dated 1855

BELL (John, 1811–1895), Engraver. Autograph letter signed to Edward Salomons Esq., architect, Manchester.

15 Douro Place, Victoria Road, Kensington, 23 June 1855.
 
4 pp. on a single bifolium, approx. 450–550 words in ink. Old folds with remnants of card to left-hand side where removed from a scrapbook. The sheet has a split along the centre fold from the top edge to around the midpoint of the letter. Overall clean, with contents clear; condition good to very good.
 
A long and detailed professional letter from the sculptor John Bell, one of the foremost British sculptors of the period. Writing to the architect Edward Salomons (1828–1906), Bell apologises for a hurried earlier note sent “on my return from Paris,” explaining that he was “occupied in consequence of having to ship on with a work I have to complete within a fixed time.” He offers extensive advice on the design of studios for artists, suggesting practical elevations, costs (“£80–£150–£180”), and materials, and discusses the views of Art Journal editor Samuel Carter Hall. Bell notes that he is himself considering building “a large one all in iron … removable or saleable if desirable when my work was done,” an early anticipation of modular or prefabricated studio design.
 
Written at a pivotal moment in Bell’s career, shortly after his celebrated Eagle Slayer (1855) was exhibited at the Crystal Palace, the letter reflects his interest in the union of art and architecture—concerns that would later inform his major public works, including the America group for the Albert Memorial and the sculpture for the Colonial Office façade.