Snaffles [Charles "Snaffles" Johnson Payne] — My Sketch Book in the Shiny

London, Gale and Polden, 1930. Cloth. A charming and very smart collection of sketches of the sporting habits of the British in India during the first part of the twentieth century. A wonderfully preserved second edition of this work, in the original unclipped dust wrapper.A work containing numerous full plate and vignette sketches of sporting life in India, including depictions of hoghunting, horses, polo and pigsticking. This is the work of Charles "Snaffles" Johnson Payne, an English painter known for his humorous work and for his outstanding draughtsmanship and depiction of the horse in action. Snaffles specialised in water colours and drawings sold as prints which, at least initially, were hand-coloured by the artist and his sisters. His subject matter was invariably military, racing or hunting and equestrian scenes, or some combination of these. Many of his most famous pictures contrast or combine military life with the peacetime pursuits of racing and hunting.With an attractive inscription to the front endpaper. In the publisher's original cloth binding, with unclipped dust wrapper. Externally, smart and bright, with light shelf wear to spine head and tail. Dust wrapper reinforced with tape to reverse. General edgewear, with a tear to foot of back strip and a closed tear to fold at rear joint. Contemporary inscription to front free endpaper. Pages bright and clean. Near Fine . Ill.: Snaffles. Near Fine/Very Good.