Sven BERLIN (1911-1999) 'Pride of the Peacock: The Evolution...

Hammer

£130

Sven BERLIN (1911-1999) 'Pride of the Peacock: The Evolution of an Artist' A collection of typed manuscripts and handwritten notes signed and dated 1964 to 1971. Two final typescripts titled 'I Owe A Cock', a text which was later used in Berlin's published (1972) work 'Pride of the Peacock'. The manuscript of which is also included in the lot. Along with the written texts, there is a selection of loose, related illustrations of varying sizes. 'Pride of the Peacock' is one of Berlin's many autobiographical texts. Here he speaks of his early life; his childhood encounters with the Gypsy community in 1928 (whom he later returned to following his time in St.ives), his introduction to Adagio Dancing and his first experiences with Cornwall, on the North Cliffs and Camborne. 'Pride of the Peacock' is part of Berlin's collection of semi-autobiographical texts named 'The Dome of Glass'. With five texts included in this collection, (Spectre, Pride of the Peacock, I Am Lazarus, The Dark Monarch and Cold Eye), each text represents a chapter of Berlin's life that is characterised by different 'quests'. They exist individually as notable works, yet when together form a significant and complete image of Berlin. He writes - 'This work is conceived as a dome in which the pieces of experience - the coloured glass - are fitted, giving in the end an experience larger than itself. If one thinks of a whole personality as a tree growing under the dome of glass with roots deep in the universal mind the force is at once given as a growing organism reacting toward eternity.' Each book is a singular root of experience, which collectively form the tree (Berlin). 'I Owe A Cock' (Pride of the Peacock) is said to be both parts two and three of the six 'roots', and are characterised by both physical and spiritual 'quests'.