Friday Snapshot … Old Sundials

Last week I featured a beautifully illustrated bookbinding of Jessie M King ; the book of old sundials & their mottoes has colour illustrations by Alfred Rawlings and drawings of some famous sundials by Warrington Hogg.

Published in 1914 by T. N. Foulis, of in Edinburgh who were noted for their fine book design, illustration and production

Alfred Rawlings (1855-1929) I understand was Reading based; a water colour painter who specialised in landscapes and seascapes.  

I know even less about Warrington Hogg the illustrator.

It is a funny little book with a mish-mash of arty attributes; and a selections of nearly 350 inscriptions from old sundials, with an introductory essay by Launcelot Cross whose background also remains unknown.

‘What a dead thing is a clock, compared with the simple altar-like structure and the silent

heart-language of the old dial!’

Henley-on-Thames

The sundial stood as the garden god of Christian Gardens.  It spoke of moderate labours, of pleasure not protracted after sunset.’

Reading

The dial seems is a witness with a silent voice amid the changes of this life, to the lastingness of things.’

Padworth, Berks.