John Oliver Hobbes, The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895) |
Secondly, there is a monogram on the title page that might mean 'C.H.S'.
John Oliver Hobbes, The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): second title page |
John Oliver Hobbes, The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): second title page (detail) |
Another bookseller found a handwritten note in a copy of this book stating that it was designed by Walter Spindler: 'A pencil note on the leading endpaper identifies the designer of the book and of the titlepage as the pre-Raphaelite artist Walter Spindler.'
That is correct, and, incidentally, the artist himself left his mark on the drawn title page that precedes the illustrated title page. It bears his monogram 'W.S.'
John Oliver Hobbes, The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): first title page |
John Oliver Hobbes, The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): first title page (detail) |
With a title-page and binding designed by Walter Spindler.
The Pageant for 1896 (published 1895) |
Walter E. Spindler (1878-1940) was not a pre-Raphaelite artist (as the second antiquarian bookseller claimed); he was born far too late for that. The French-born artist is known for his portraits of Sarah Bernhardt and Alfred Lord Douglas, among others.
John Oliver Hobbes was the pen-name of Pearl Mary Teresa Richards (1867-1906). She was born in Boston (1867), moved to London when young, was raised in London and Paris, wrote novels and drama. She died quite suddenly in London in 1906.
The artist and the author knew each other well, from childhood on, and although it was rumoured that Spindler and Richards were to be engaged, this actually never happened. She dedicated one of her novels to him, and he provided a portrait of her for her book Tales of John Oliver Hobbes (1894).
Postscript
Simon Wilson reminds me that C.H.sc. refers to Carl Hentschel.