Scope and content
Album of press cuttings (1890 - 1951); drawings (1892 - 1944); sketchbooks (1895 -
1930); albums of greeting cards by R.P. Gossop, his clients and his associates (1895
- 1952); albums of proofs for Geo. Newnes (1896 - 1902); medals (1897 - ca. 1937);
wallpaper designs (ca. 1898); portfolio including articles, correspondence, graphic
designs, illustrations and lecture papers (1898 - 1950); papers relating to Jessie
Gossop (ca. 1899 - ca. 1912); commercial drawings, illustrations, photographs, press
cuttings and publications containing work by clients and associates including Hanslip
Fletcher, Ambrose Heal, Henry Ospovat and E. J. Sullivan (ca. 1899 - 1940); cards
designed by R.P. Gossop, his clients and his associates (1899 - 1992); correspondence
with R.P. Gossop and Bronson Sherwood (1905 - 1990); diary (ca. 1907 - 1945); press
cuttings (1910 - 1992); photographs (ca. 1911 - ca. 1945); publications including
R.P. Gossop illustrations (1912 - 1949); photograph albums (1914 - 1929); posters
including commissions for Heal & Son Ltd and London Transport (ca. 1923 - 1937); cashbook
(1923 - 1936); bookplate designs (undated).
Record creators history
Robert Percy Gossop (1876 - 1951) was apprenticed in 1892 as a wallpaper and fabric
designer in London. Whilst undertaking his apprenticeship he attended art classes
at colleges includingBirkbeck CollegeandHammersmith School of Art. From 1896 to 1902
he worked as a designer and freelance illustrator. In 1902 he married Jessie Dora
Meech, with whom he had a daughter, Sylvia Mary Bronson (later Bronson Sherwood) in
1907. From 1902 until 1904 he worked as studio manager for the printers Eyre and Spottiswood
and from 1904 in the same capacity for W. H. Smith. At W. H. Smith he worked with
a number of significant artists, including Henry Ospovat, and designed Smith's famous
lozenge shaped logo. In 1913, following a visit to America, Gossop became the first
art editor for BritishVogue. In 1914 he became art adviser to Dobson Molle and Co.,
an Edinburgh firm of printers. From 1916 until the end of the First World War he worked
at the Ministry of Information, helping with the distribution of propaganda. At the
end of the war he became joint manager at Carlton Studio.
In 1923, partly to help his friend Edmund J. Sullivan, Gossop set up his own firm
of artists' agents, R.P. Gossop Ltd. His clients included Hanslip Fletcher and Eric
Fraser. At the same time he continued to work as a freelance designer and illustrator,
with commissions including designs for the Empire Marketing Board, Heal & Son Ltd
and London Transport. In 1926 he co-founded the Society of Industrial Artists with
Milner Gray. He also served on the Council of the Design and Industries Association.
In 1937 he delivered the Dent Memorial Lecture, on book illustration, and from 1938
worked as a lecturer at the City of London College. His daughter joined him as office
manager for R.P. Gossop Ltd in 1925 and after his death in 1951 she continued to run
the business.
Source of acquisition
Bequest of Bronson Sherwood, 1998.
System of arrangement
These archives have been organized into the following sub-fonds: R. P. Gossop personal
papers; R. P. Gossop commercial papers; R. P. Gossop reserach papers; Bronson Sherwood's
R. P. Gossop papers; R. P. Gossop's associates' papers; Jessie Gossop's papers.
Conditions governing access
This archive is available for consultation in the Blythe House Archive and Library
Reading Room, which is located at Blythe House, 23 Blythe Road, Olympia, London, W14
0QX. The Reading Room is open Tuesday to Friday between 10.00 am and 4.30 pm, access
to it is by appointment only. To request an appointment please email archive@vam.ac.uk
or telephone 020 7603 7493. Access to some files may be restricted. These are identified
at file level.
Conditions governing reproduction
For conservation reasons the photocopying of archival material is not permitted. Archives
may be photographed for study purposes only, at the discretion of the archivist.
Other finding aids
This online catalogue is a complete description of the archive to file level. A summary
description is also included on the National Art Library computer catalogue, and in
the publishedGuide to the Archive of Art and Design
Related material
See also at the AAD: Heal and Son Holdings plc, bedding and furniture manufacturer
and retailer, posters (AAD/1986/1). R.P. Gossop undertook commissions for Heal & Son
Ltd.
Publication note
Gossop., R.P.Advertisement design. London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd, 1937. xxxiii, 253
p. ill.
Gossop, R.P.Book illustration: a review of the art as it is today - the 7th Dent Memorial
Lecture delivered at the London School of Printing on 1st October 1937. London: J.M.
Dent, 1937. 45 p.
Extent
74 files
Keywords
Subjects:
Commercial artists
Personal names:Gossop , Robert Percy . (1876 - 1951 )
Corporate names: Birkbeck College Hammersmith School of Art
Titles of related works:
Vogue
Titles of related works:
Guide to the Archive of Art and Design
Titles of related works:
Advertisement design.
Titles of related works:
Book illustration: a review of the art as it is today - the 7th Dent Memorial Lecture
delivered at the London School of Printing on 1st October 1937.
Language of the material
English
Record creator
Content provider
Victoria and Albert Museum: