Mar 26, 2015 - Sale 2377

Sale 2377 - Lot 186

Price Realized: $ 2,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
MERRILL, EDWARD M. The Blackville Billiard Club, A Menace to Vignaux. "If Mr. Johnsing Make dat shot, we'll back him again' the hull Chicago Turnupment. Birch-bark on-lays against a black background, 13-1/2 x 19-1/2 inches, framed, offered together with a small but rich archive of material on the artist, including photographs, issues of Harpers in which his work appeared, and more. should be seen. Concord, N.H., circa late 1870's

Additional Details

Edward W. Merrill (1841-1910) was born into a family of New England Bible publishers, and became an "India ink artist." Not a great deal is known of the life of Merrill, but the material in the accompanying archive gives some idea of his work. Art historian Frank Spinney wrote an article about Merrill for the Maine Antique Digest, in which he stated that he was able to locate about 25 birch bark works by Merrill. There is included an engraving of the present work, Blackville Billiard Club, as it appeared in the pages of Harpers for 31 March, 1883.