A pair of original etchings entitled "Cynthia" (16.4 x 8.2 cm.) and "The Rivals" (9.3 x 8cm.) being among Lindsay's first attempts at the etching medium for which he became so renowned.

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

Produced as early as 1906 though not published 'Cynthia' (16.4 x 8.2 cm) and 'The Rivals' (9.3 x 8 cm) were among Lindsay's first attempts at the etching medium for which he became so renowned. The original un-cancelled plates were donated to the National Trust in 1982 by Lionel Lindsay's son Peter Lindsay. The Trust subsequently arranged for a limited edition of sixteen numbered prints to be printed that same year of which only eleven were offered for sale. The etchings are hand-numbered and titled in pencil below the image. Uniformly printed on hand-made paper measuring 46 x 35 cm. With provenance certificates from the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum. Two fine and extremely rare etchings by the remarkable Australian artist Norman Lindsay (1879-1969). Lindsay's etchings of which there are approximately 300 in existence (published and unpublished) were produced in the main between the two world wars. Norman exhibited his first etchings in 1918 at the urging of his elder brother Lionel who introduced him to the medium. Lionel was an accomplished artist in his own right and had already had some success in the medium having exhibited etchings of old buildings in The Rocks Sydney at the 1907 exhibition of the Society of Artists which initiated "a new vogue for etching" (ADB 1986). As Peter Lindsay son of Lionel Lindsay explained in his bequest to the National Trust "I have in my possession two copper plates by Norman Lindsay which I suspect were the first plates he ever attempted. I know these plates were in my father's home at Wahroonga over sixty years ago and the probability is that he had been instructing Norman in the complexities of etching printing. After that they were apparently relegated to some cupboard and forgotten."