Lennon's school drawings to fetch up to �90,000

Nov 15 2005

John Vincent reports on a teacher's family ready to sell early work by one of his most famous pupils

Daily Post

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JOHN LENNON may have left school without a single O-Level - but his drawings left a lasting impression on English teacher and housemaster Lancelot Burrows.

He kept 12-year-old Lennon's exercise book to show future generations of pupils at Liverpool's Quarry Bank High School.

Now the family of the late Mr Burrows is to cash in on the world's most expensive schoolbook - by selling it at a manuscripts auction next month.

The book in which Lennon poured out his artistic talent - and laid the foundations for one of the Beatles's most famous hits - is set to fetch up to �90,000 at Sotheby's in London on December 15.

The book, compiled by Lennon in his first year at Quarry Bank in 1952, and covered in a protective layer of brown paper, contains eight drawings in pen, pencil and watercolour illustrating verses from classic poems, copied out by Lennon.

One of the poems was Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter - later acknowledged by Lennon as being the inspiration for the famously unfathomable Beatles song I am the Walrus.

It is perhaps a coincidence that the oysters in Lennon's drawing - which accompanied by two verses from Carroll's poem in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There - look remarkably like "eggmen".

Other illustrations depict scenes from classic poems by Robert Southey, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cowper, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Michael Drayton, as well as one from Robin Hood.

The cover is marked, somewhat precociously for a 12-year-old, "My Anthology", and each drawing is marked out of ten in red by Lennon's teacher - the lowest being eight ("good").

After leaving Dovedale primary Lennon went to Quarry Bank, a suburban grammar school in Allerton close to his Aunt Mimi's house, with his best friend Pete Shotton in 1952.

Although Lennon was intelligent, his work got steadily worse and after failing all his O-Levels he went to Liverpool College of Art. It was at Quarry Bank that Lennon, then a "teddy boy", formed his first group, The Quarrymen, with schoolfriends Pete Shotton, Eric Griffiths, Len Garry, Colin Hanton and a lad called Rod. Later the group became Johnny and the Moondogs, the Silver Beatles and, finally, the Beatles.

English literature specialist Tessa Milne of Sotheby's said: "Mr Burrows was a key influence on the young John Lennon and encouraged him to pursue his artistic and literary interests. These drawings are remarkably accomplished for one so young, and the book is a wonderful example of Lennon's emerging artistic talent.

"They are proof the skills of the rebellious schoolboy were not lost on Mr Burrows, who encouraged his interest in poetry and art and then kept this exemplary exercise book from 1952 for the benefit of future generations of pupils at Quarry Bank."

The drawings in the book foreshadow the artwork Lennon produced as a teenager for The Daily Howl, a mock newspaper full of caricatures and satirical verses which he circulated among his classmates at Quarry Bank, themselves precursors of his later humorous poetry and prose, such as In His Own Write (1964) and A Spaniard in the Works (1965).

Lennon himself did not take the words to I Am the Walrus too seriously. He said in 1973: "I was the Walrus, whatever that means ... everybody presumes that just because I said I was the Walrus that it must mean I am God or something, but it's just poetry. But it became symbolic of me..."

Brian Davies, head of Calder-stones School, which used to be Quarry Bank, said: "It's a strange thing to do, keep a book by a 12-year-old. Maybe he had taken them home to mark and had forgotten them.

"Unless you had a time machine, how would anyone know which of the children they taught would be millionaires?"

containing eight drawings executed by Lennon in pen, pencil and watercolour, each one illustrating a verse from a classic poem written out by Lennon in ink, the eight titles being: "The Inchcape Rock" [by Robert Southey] ("They hear no sound, the swell is strong..."), "The Fasting of Hiawatha" [by Longfellow] ("And he saw a youth approaching..."), "the walrus and the carpenter" [by Lewis Carroll] ("It was so kind of you to come!..."), "Robin Hood" ("As Robin Hood in the forest stood..."), "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "Morte D'Arthur" [by Tennyson] ("But ere he dipt the surface..."), "John Gilpin" [by William Cowper] ("John Gilpin, at his horse's side..."), and "Agincourt" [by Michael Drayton] ("When down their bows they threw..."), each drawing marked by Lennon's teacher in red ink, the lowest mark being an 8 ("good"); together with a pencil and ink drawing by Lennon at the end entitled "Badgers Green - the Docter"

PROVENANCE

John Lennon's English teacher and housemaster at the Quarry Bank School, thence by descent

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Ray Coleman, Lennon: the Definitive Biography, 1995; Richard Middleton, Oxford DNB, 2004; Peter Doggett, The Art & Music of John Lennon, 2005, pp.8-10

CATALOGUE NOTE

10 illustrated pages (plus blanks), 4to, in an exercise book bound in red paper wrappers covered in brown paper, the upper wrapper inscribed by Lennon "My Anthology" within a mock coat-of-arms and signed by him at the top [half of signature torn away], the covering also inscribed by Lennon "My | Anthology | John Lennon | 1R | Bailey House", [1952], slight offsetting from the illustrations, small portion of upper wrapper torn away with loss of half of Lennon's signature, two ink-stains to paper cover, cover slightly creased and nicked

remarkable and vibrant example of the emerging artistic talent of the young john lennon.

The present drawings, executed by the twelve-year-old Lennon in 1952, are proof that the talents of the famously rebellious schoolboy were not lost on his English teacher and housemaster Lancelot Burrows, who encouraged his interest in poetry and art, and kept this exemplary exercise book from 1952 for the benefit of future generations of pupils at the Quarry Bank School. Not surprisingly, following dire results in the general certificate of education exams, Lennon's further education took the form of an art course at the Liverpool College of Art (1957-60).

The drawings in this exercise book foreshadow the artwork Lennon produced as a teenager for The Daily Howl, a mock newspaper full of caricatures and satirical verses which he circulated among his classmates at the Quarry Bank School. His teenage artwork, often mixing whimsical and surreal drawings with ingenuous word-play, can itself be seen as a precursor to his later works of humourous poetry and prose, In His Own Write (1964) and A Spaniard in the Works (1965).

Of particular interest, with regard to the lyrics of Lennon's later songs, (always such a rich source of conjecture for Beatlemaniacs) is his illustration of a verse from Lewis Carroll's 'The Walrus and the Carpenter', acknowledged by lennon as being the inspiration for his famously surreal song "i am the walrus", first recorded in 1967 (it is a charming coincidence that the oysters in Lennon's drawing look remarkably like "eggmen" -- see illustration above). The walrus, here depicted elegantly perched on a "conveniently low" rock, was to feature twice more in Lennon's songs; in "Glass Onion", The Beatles, or "The White Album", 1968 ("...I told you about the walrus and me, man. | You know that we're as close as can be - man. | Well here's another clue for you all | The walrus was Paul...") and in "God", John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, 1970 ("...The dream is over | Yesterday | I was the Dreamweaver | But now I'm reborn | I was the Walrus | But now I'm John | And so dear friends | You'll just have to carry on | The dream is over").

...I was the Walrus, whatever that means...the Walrus was a big capitalist that ate all the fuckin' oysters...I always had this image of the Walrus in the garden and I loved it, and so I didn't ever check what the Walrus was...But he's a fucking bastard, that's what he turns out to be. But...everybody presumes...just 'cause I said I am the Walrus that it must mean I am God or something, but it's just poetry. But it became symbolic of me... (Lennon Remembers: the Rolling Stone Interviews, ed. J. Wenner, 1973).

included in this lot is a class photograph of Form 1R at Quarry Bank School, September 1952, depicting John Lennon in the back row (second from left) and Lancelot Burrows as the housemaster.