Brush with Privateers

BROWNE, Gordon. A Brush with Privateers. Original pen-and-ink drawing measuring 5.5” x 8” and matted to 10.5” by 14”. Initialed by the artist, Gordon Browne, in the lower right corner.

Original illustration for the frontispiece of G.A. Henty’s With Clive in India [London: Blackie, 1884]. A wonderful nautical battle scene illustration by the prolific British children’s book artist. Browne’s first published work accompanied G.A. Henty’s 1882 novel Facing Death, and he would go on to illustrate 13 other Henty novels. With Clive in India chronicles the expansion of the British empire into India through the eyes of Major General Robert Clive, the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency, and this frontispiece illustration captures one of the nautical battles fought during his campaign.