Four autograph letters signed by Jessie M. King, written to a Mr Murray, regarding the loan of her work for the Scottish National Exhibition of 1911. Each a single side of letter paper, one embossed with her Paris address, the others with the address in holograph, signed either "Jessie M. King" or "Jessie M. King Taylor".In the first letter, of January 1911, King thanks Mr Murray for the invitation to exhibit her bookplate designs in Glasgow, and apologies her delay in replying, "I have made enquiries at numerous owners hence my delay in acknowledging your letter sooner". She notes that the original designs of bookplates for William Macmillan, Mr & Mrs James Young, and J. W. Christie, would be available for the exhibition, and that if more than three are required, she could supply a full set of reproductions.In the second letter, of February 1911, King opens by reporting that she has been struck by influenza. This letter is particularly notable as she is quite stern about how they ought to be displayed:"I note what you say about bookplates & of course would not dream of asking the loan of originals unless they could stand in their own frames. And as I don't think a mixture of different artists' work in the same frame would make for an artistic whole. I think I would prefer not to exhibit any prints unless I were permitted to arrange and frame my own prints for exhibition. I may say that I have designed quite a number although you have only secured one - but a large number of mine have been done for foreigners - as well as Britishers."In the third letter, of early March 1911, King and Murray appear to have reached agreement, "I shall be very pleased to let you have a frame with prints of my best plates, all belonging to Scotch people albeit their addresses may be in other parts". She then offers to hand illuminate those plates that are not in colour, and asks how late they might arrive with him and still be in time for the exhibition.In the final letter, from later that March, King suppliers the list of lenders she has "so far", which extends to nine individuals, including her husband E. A. Taylor, noting that while "they are wide apart in residence, they are all Scotch lenders." She sends her best wishes that the exhibition has "great success as it deserves", and after signing adds the postscript, "Kindly note that I exhibit my work always in my own maiden name & not in my married name". In very good condition, each folded twice for sending.

The Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry of 1911, held in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, was a major cultural event, attracting over nine million visitors.
There had been two previous grand exhibitions in Glasgow in 1881 and 1901, but this was the first to have an explicit focus on Scottish history, with profits from the fair used to endow a chair of Scottish History at Literature at the University of Glasgow.
This focus on Scottish history explains the stipulation that the bookplates be those designed for fellow Scots.
The artistic elements of the exhibition were housed in the custom built Palace Of Art, where paintings, sculpture, architecture and photography would have been exhibited alongside Jessie King's bookplates as mentioned here. Other work by King was also exhibited including copies of The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam, The Rose And The Ring, and Tennyson's Poems and Works all bound by John Macbeth after designs by King (White A6-7, A9-10).
Other artists who contributed to the exhibition included Sam Bough, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.

Stock ID: 40804