Edwin’s sketchbook. Description: Closed landscape notebook. Worn buckram cover with leather spine. Ink stains, smudges, tears on spine and corners, pages spilling out.Page 1 (Left): Pencil sketch of trees [inside front cover of sketchbook]. Page 2 (Right): Landscape watercolour sketch of several varieties of trees and some buildings across a spread of green ground.Page 3 (Left): Faint pencil markings, perhaps of a section of building. Page 4 (Right): Very faint portrait pencil study of gravestone.Pages 5 and 6. Orchard. A two page watercolour of a hop farm, one of three versions in the sketchbooks and the only one in this sketchbook. In the foreground, the Maitai river wraps around the hops orchard and away from the viewer. There are faint pencil markings where the hop crops are, the area otherwise white and unfilled. The valley stretches into the distance, between two converging mountain slopes with more mountains beyond. This watercolour is similar to Edwin’s earlier ‘Hop picking in Maitai’ painting.Page 7 (Left): Partially done pencil sketch of a ship in harbour. Page 8 (Right): Landscape watercolour sketch of morning or evening sky above mountain range. Pink mauve and blues.Page 9 (Left): Pencil landscape. Looks like a sea view, mountain range in distance, very minimal. Page 10 (Right): Unfinished landscape watercolour sketch. Scene is of mountain range backing onto a collection of buildings and trees.Pages 11 and 12. Two page watercolour sketch (unfinished) of a road by the Nelson seashore. A boat shed, Fifeshire Rock, and Haulashore Island are visible.Page 13 and 14. Nelson seaside. Two page watercolour sketch of a road running along by the sea, more detailed than the previous version along another part of the road. There are two small houses on the other side of the road, sitting at the bottom of a hill with trees. One has a cart parked outside. There is a man walking along the road. In the foreground a rowboat rests on the shore, the tide looks like it is out. In the distance you can see what must be Tahunanui beach. Off shore, Haulashore Island is visible as is Fifeshire Rock. The road depicted could be Atawhai Drive/the Highway that runs above the ocean. Boats sit in the harbour and the surrounding mountain range (Abel Tasman) is in the distance.Page 15 (Left): Portrait pencil sketch of tree. Page 16 (Right): Very faint landscape pencil sketch of what looks to be a street lined with buildings on either side.Page 17 (Left): Watercolour in grey of a church with one spire and four visible gables from this perspective, two trees off to the left. Close resemblance to St. Mary’s Church. Page 18 (Right): Very faint sketch, possibly erased, of a tree.Page 19 and 20. Double page watercolour sketch. ‘Bell grove April 1886.’ Depicts a road with a man and a cart. A plain in front and rolling hills in the distance, higher mountains off to the left where the road is heading.Page 21 (Left): Single page landscape watercolour sketch of an area that Edwin drew multiple times. The image looks out over the Maitai River and wooden bridge, from near the river itself, in a close-up view of the pencil sketch on page 8 of the Briant sketchbook. A bushy tree, willow tree, and tall spindly Pukatia tree (just visible over the tops of the trees) can be seen beyond the bridge. A similar sketch of this view is on page 63 of this sketchbook. Page 22 (Right): Single page landscape watercolour sketch. A sketch of Belgrove Hotel, a yellow, two-storied building with a gable at each end, a verandah, a chimney, a row of bushes in front and two tall trees on either side behind the house. A figure in a red skirt and a white shirt and a red hat or bow stands holding something on the driveway/road outside, in between a shed to the left and the house to the right. A white picket fence runs behind the house. In the corner of the sketch Edwin has written: ‘Bell Grove April 1886.’Page 23 (Left): Unfinished pencil study of what is possibly a fireplace around or a piece of colonial architecture like an Arc de Triomphe style monument. Page 24 (Right): Pencil sketch of trees with hills and houses in the background and a wide expanse of sky.Page 25 (Left): Very faint pencil sketch of a landscape, the hills a distant background to the land, or possibly water, with the clouds overhead. The mound-like shape near the centre might be Fifeshire Rock, making this a sketch of the Nelson seaside from a different perspective than the watercolours on pages 11 to 14. Page 26 (Right): Very faint or partially erased pencil sketch of two gravestones.Page 27 (Left): Could this pencil sketch be of Emily and two sisters, standing around a table in a park somewhere? A single page sketch of an open space, like a park, with a grove of trees to the left and a faint mountain line in the distance. At the centre of the composition are three women in hats and big skirts standing and sitting around what looks like a big outside table. They could be working or making something. There might be a little boy leaning over the table. There is a pile of something at their feet. To the left of the central women is another party, looks like one man standing by another table nearby three women. To the left of the frame another two women stand by a gate and look on. To the right of the frame a woman walks out of the picture. Page 28 (Right): Pencil study of colonial architecture with measurements. ‘Fire brigade’ written at top of page.Page 29 (Left): Very faint pencil sketch of a girl. She is turned away. Wearing a hat, hair down her back, little boots. Dress tie at back. Some other sketch on same page, looks like a study of a door handle or some detail. Page 30 (Right): Landscape watercolour sketch. Page is divided in half, left half is the side of a building, right half is the street view around the corner, figure standing at corner on other side of road, trees. One word: Begins with V or l or r and ends with y. Vanity? Laundry?Page 31 (Left): Landscape watercolour sketch looking at a house from riverbank. Some trees framing view. Building behind a white picket fence. River water is light blue and still, trees reflected. Page 32 (Right): Unfinished pencil sketch of a tree. Upside down, it looks like two human figures were sketched and erased.Page 33 (Left): Unfinished pencil sketch of Charles William Manby’s gravestone, facing the sea in Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson. Page 34 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch of a flagpole with two lines of flags hanging from tip to ground in a triangle. Looks like it’s in front of the bay. Possibly a signaling flagpole.Page 35 (Left): Three small pencil sketches of carts. Perspective is from behind the cart, with one side on and drawn by horses. Page 36 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch with perspective lines drawn. Crosses over to page 35. Note in top right corner: October 10 1882. Street scene with a comet in the sky. Church on left hand side and mountains in background. Colour notes in sky next to comet: ‘Faint blue’ and five words: ‘brighter as the [?] nucleus’. Source of Edwin’s large oil painting auctioned in Wellington in 1996: Edwin Harris, ‘The Great Comet,’ oil, unsigned but labelled on back ‘Nelson NZ Oct 10-1882,’ 40 x 55 cm, Est: NZD200-500, Dunbar Sloane, Major Art Auction, Wellington, 27/11/1996, Lot No. 111. Sold: NZ$770.
Page 37 (Left): Pencil sketches of leaves, the sketches on the left and right of the leaf are possibly botanical studies of the cones on mountain toatoa. Page 38 (Right): Pencil sketch of a shrub or bushy vine with annotation: ‘oxide of chromium leaves dark green flower light greenish lemon yellow’.Page 39 (Left): Landscape pencil sketch of a building with tall chimney by the seaside, a boat lying on sand, hill range in background, a road/wall in the foreground with a person’s head popping up above the line, handwritten word looks like ‘tramway.’ Page 40 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch. Perspective is from a hill, looking down at a house surrounded by some trees, a road going down the hill in the foreground, and a mountain range in the far distance.Page 41 and 42. Double page landscape watercolour sketch. A house surrounded by some trees against a background of hills, with a river winding its way into the foreground.
Page 43 (Left): Watercolour landscape sketch of a river with overhanging tree branches and rocks. Page 44 (Right): Watercolour studies of eclipse and moon patterns. pencil and Watercolour studies of a solar eclipse showing four phases and totality. Hill line with a low sun behind and a dotted arrow labelled: ‘height of sun’) Edwin’s sketches, though undated, can be linked to the solar eclipse of 9 Sept 1885 which he, Emily, Frances and Ellen observed in Nelson. See Emily’s diary entry: “We all got up about half past five a.m., made a little water boil while we were dressing, had a little refreshment, & then set off, Father for the Church Hill, & we three for the Port Hills, to see the eclipse of the sun. The morning was perfectly calm, still & light, not a cloud. We got a splendid view of sea & sky, the sun rising above the hills, the lovely effect of deep shadow & yellow light as the eclipse went on until when totality was reached it became almost dark & very cold, the stars began to appear, then suddenly the most brilliant rays of white, rosy & rainbow shot out from beneath the dark edge, again the sun began to emerge from the black shadow & gradually the light of day & the blue sky returned to us. It was a sight never to be forgotten. I tried to make a sketch but was not very successful.”
Edwin’s rendering of the eclipse shows In pencil 4 of its phases and then in watercolour the moment of totality twice. He paints a black circle that is edged in a dark pink with a grey wash in behind for sky, colours that echo Emily’s oil painting of the event. Astronomer Wayne Orchiston notes: ‘The first total solar eclipse visible from New Zealand following European settlement occurred on 9 September 1885, and attracted the attention of professional scientists and amateur astronomers.’ (‘New Zealand Astronomy and the 9 September 1885 Total Solar Eclipse,’ 2017)
A newspaper article from 1910 confirms that Edwin painted a full version of the 1885 eclipse which has since disappeared: “Miss Harris, Nile Street, has shown me three interesting paintings relating to past Comets and the eclipse of the Sun, and they will be exhibited in Jackson and Co.’s window, Trafalgar Street, on Monday, when there will be a total eclipse of the sun, invisible in New Zealand. The first of the pictures represents the brilliant comet seen in 1882, painted by the late Mr. Edwin Harris; the second represents the double-tailed comet, seen in April, 1901, painted at Wakapuaka by Miss Harris; and a picture of the total eclipse of the sun in September, 1885, painted by the late Mr Harris, is the third of the series. (‘Local & General,’ Nelson Evening Mail 7 May 1910: 4)” Page 45 and 46. Double page landscape pencil sketch, looking out from the road to buildings nestled amongst trees and bushes.
Page 47 (Left): Faint pencil sketch, looks like another cloud study. Page 48 (Right): Very faint pencil sketch, looks like a door frame and a closed window. Reminiscent of his Taranaki colonial architecture study with columns.Page 49 and 50. Double page landscape pencil sketch depicting Nile Street lined with buildings, and featuring the grand, colonial style Dr. Locking’s house to the left in much detail, against a backdrop of hills. A precursor to Edwin Harris’s painting ‘Nile Street East, Trafalgar Square Nelson, New Zealand 1876’ which features these empty sketched streets filled with people.Page 51 (Left): Landscape pencil sketch, trees in foreground close up, hills in distance, eye is drawn through the trees to a church in centre of page. Page 52 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch of Bishop’s School. Carefully done, shadows drawn in, details on gables and doors. Note in bottom left corner: ‘lithographic.’ Right corner: ‘Bishops School. Nelson 4. 1885’Page 53 and 54: A two page pencil landscape sketch of two ships at sea with text, presumably from a newspaper, pasted in about the H.M.S Blanche. First page pictures the H.M.S Blanche and the second pages pictures the H.M.S Adamant. Captioned ‘Nelson September 12 1874’.Page 55 (Left): Landscape pencil sketch of ship at docks (closer up). There is a small figure at front of ship standing on the sand. Page 56 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch of two ships at docks with their sails tangled.Page 57 (Left): Faint, partially done landscape watercolour sketch. Looks like a sunset, last orangey glow of the sun below the horizon and a tree in blue shadow. Some faint writing in the bottom right corner: [—-onary] [illegible]’ and ‘July 6 18[–]’. Page 58 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch, very faint, of a low rise hill in the distance and some paddocks before.Page 59 (Left): Landscape watercolour of ship docked, neatly done, reflection in water, calm day, hot cloudless sky, small red boats, dirt road and some green grass. Page 60 (Right): Landscape watercolour of blue sky with clouds and two treetops, the subject is the clouds.Page 61 and 62. Landscape pencil sketch spread over two pages, on the left hand side there are trees and a house in the distance with hills behind, a skinny strip of land with bushes sticking out amongst the water. Near the water, some kind of spire, monument, or marker. On the right hand side, the perspective is from the water looking back at the foreshore and row of buildings, trees, hills, with a boat and its anchor resting on the dry seabed. Low tide.Page 63 (Left): Landscape pencil sketch of the Maitai river and wooden bridge. Note the presence of the trio of the bushy tree, willow, and tall spindly tree that mark it as the same area as the watercolour on page 21 of this sketchbook or the pencil sketch on page 8 of the Briant sketchbook. Page 64 (Right): Portrait pencil sketch of a large tree behind a small fence.Page 65 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch of paddle steamer ship, possibly the Wonga Wonga or the Tasmanian Maid , with two masts, anchor tied to the side, and two small human figures. Part of the front sail is hanging slack over the prow of the ship. Pencilled caption read ‘[red?] ship.’ Page 66 (Left): Landscape watercolour of harbour with ships, one docked, smaller sail boat, small row boat with two rowers away from dock. Calm sunny day, boats’ sails and masts reflected in water. A lighthouse in the distance.Page 67 (Left): Landscape pencil sketch, foreground featuring a man sitting on a log amongst an area of tree stumps, with a fallen tree landing into a brush of remaining bushes and trees off to the left. Mid-ground of houses set against the high bush and hills with clouds overhead. Page 68 (Right): Unfinished landscape pencil sketch of a house and a tree, possibly a bog or mountain pine, to the left and blank space to the right.Page 69 (Left): Portrait pencil sketch of tree, possibly a Manatu/Ribbonwood, behind a path, amongst short bushes, and situated in front of a faint background of hills. Page 70 (Right): Portrait pencil sketch, tree studies, a tree with sweeping downfacing leaves labelled ‘sword tree’, two cabbage trees labelled ‘Cabbage or Ti Tree [Ti kōuka] cabbage green leaf’ and ‘sword tree […] green leaf’ respectively, and an unlabeled tree to the right and one fallen at the foot of the others.Page 71 (Left): Portrait pencil sketch, ‘Auster rose climbing up a fern tree’ beside a hedge archway. Page 72 (Right): Portrait pencil sketch of a cabbage tree rising above a couple of surrounding bushes.Page 73 (Left): Back of front cover. Some partial pencil studies (faint) of a street view with numbers, portrait. Page 74 (Right): Landscape pencil sketch of a house with two gables, a clearing in front, a grove of trees behind, and a cart with house and a small figure waiting outside the house. Possibly, the Broadgreen Historic House.
