J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

The name and address inscribed in pencil by Turner on this page help to confirm Turner’s movements during his Scottish tour of 1831. ‘Mr [Robert] Cadell’ was Sir Walter Scott’s publisher, and the man who commissioned Turner to visit Scotland to collect material to illustrate a new edition of Scott’s Poetical Works. He subsequently worked with Turner on the collected Prose Works of Scott, and John Gilbert Lockhart’s biography of the poet. He was Turner’s main advisor during the 1831 tour, accompanying him for small stretches of it and advising the artist about his itinerary and route.1 Cadell kept a diary of the time he spent with Turner, which has provided valuable information about the artist’s movements.2 Turner stayed with Cadell at Scott’s Abbotsford home and travelled around the surrounding area with him before travelling with him to Berwick-upon-Tweed. The two met again in Edinburgh before Turner set off from the Highlands, and again before Turner returned to London.

The rest of the inscription – ‘41 St Andrew Square Ed. | First S Andrew S’ – is the address of the ‘bookseller and publisher’ according to the Scottish Book Trade Index.3 St Andrew’s Street runs between Prince’s Street and St Andrew’s Square in Edinburgh and the premises were on that corner. Turner was probably given this address by the publisher before they parted at Berwick on 11 August, as they planned to meet again in Edinburgh on the 13th.4

It is interesting to note that just a few doors away at number 32 St Andrew’s Square was the bookseller and stationer John Thomson,5 whose label is pasted into the inside front cover of the Edinburgh sketchbook (1834) (D26096– D26258; Turner Bequest CCLXVIII). Because that book contains sketches made before Turner reached Edinburgh, he must have either bought it elsewhere, or, more likely, Cadell bought it and gave it to the artist when he arrived at Abbotsford.