The whole page is taken up with the following inscription:
to pay Mr Ackermann in the | Work of the Rhine to the value | of 40£ – Mr Ackerman promising | to suppress his publication of | the Rhine and becomes responsible | for the Drawings made for him | shall not be sold to any one | for the purpose of publishing | until 3 or 4 Numbers of
This passage continues on the verso of the present leaf (
D13764) and concludes on folio 8 recto (
D13765). For clarity, the rest of the text is also transcribed here:
[D13764:] our Work are out. If Mr | Skeutz [sic] should produce a work from | the above drawings which Mr A agrees | to stop the publishing of, then nothing to be | paid of the forty pounds. If Mr Ackermann | can have [‘an’ inserted above] additional 5 per cent | from Mr Murray [‘or the same as Murray’ inserted above] arrangements he will urge | the work. Mr A to be paid by numbers | of the work when published.
[D13765:] Mr Gerning to have an equivalent | for his notes for the 24 drawings | to the value of 30L: Dg Mr | A agreed to give him 10 numbers | at about 3L per number the | map now on the road £6
Cecilia Powell points out that the notes on the present page are in the handwriting of the engraver and publisher William Bernard Cooke (1778–1855),
1 who worked with Turner on a number of engraving projects;
2 the first few words on
D13764, concluding the last sentence here, also seem to be his.
Turner’s initial agreement with Cooke and the engraver J.C. Allen for the delivery of ‘Thirty Six Drawings on the Rhine’ to be engraved is dated 9 February 1819.
3 The project was abandoned as Rudolph Ackermann published his 1819–20 series of engravings
A Picturesque Tour along the Rhine, from Mentz to Cologne (also issued as a book in 1820), with engravings after M. Schütz and an English translation of Baron von Gerning’s 1818 text.
4 The wording of the present draft is aimed at delaying Ackermann’s rival publication, but clearly came to nothing;
5 Cecilia Powell suggests that it was composed before Turner left for Italy at the end of July 1819, ahead of Ackermann’s first press advertisements in August 1819.
6
Matthew Imms
September 2013
