Autograph verses being the opening lines of his poem 'A Bunch of Roses', signed "A.B. Paterson".

 

18 x 12 cms (7 x 4.75 inches). Mounted on old pasteboard album leaf. Verso has the signature of the Anglo-Italian marine artist Eduardo de Martino (1838-1912) on H.M.S. Ophir notepaper, dated Sydney, 3rd June 1901 and also the cut signature of Alexander of Teck. Some browning and offsetting but generally very good.

 

Banjo Paterson is one of the most celebrated of Australian poets. 'A Bunch of Roses' appeared in his  book of verses 'The Man From Snowy River' published in 1895. It was a huge seller and quickly made him a household name in Australia and established his reputation as the foremost poet of Australian bush life. Banjo Paterson's Waltzing Matilda is now known the world over. His reputation endures and his portrait appears on the Australian $10 bill. Signed verse quotations by Paterson are rather uncommon.

 

 Provenance:  From an album compiled by Florence Pearl Faithfull (known as "Pearl"), later Lady Dilke.  Pearl Faithfull was the daughter of H.M Faithfull, solicitor of Sydney, New South Wales and the grand-daughter of the Australian pioneer and politician William Pitt Faithfull.  In 1915 she married Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke but following his insanity and subsequent death in 1918 she returned to Australia.  Many of the autographs in Pearl Faithfull's collection have an Australian connection.