Inscription surrounded by floral border: Harebell, by Clarence Bicknell

An image of Inscription surrounded by floral border: Harebell. Inscription surrounded by floral border: Rose. Bicknell, Clarence (British, 1842-1918). Watercolour over graphite on paper, height, leaf, 326 mm, width, leaf, 255 mm, 1908. Part of: A Posy. Vellum-bound sketchbook containing leaves with an index at the end. Cover with brown leather ornamentation and remains of vellum closure straps.
Inscription(s): Recto, upper right; watercolour; 107. Recto; watercolour; ....Not a hare to right the bells / Could she make the harebells / Harebells, harebells, a little / Stands and listens longingly; / Touch you; rose mouth kisses / Is a little child a thing any Child's hand or poet's heart / Let her hear your fairy / Let her hear what poet's voice / Let a child ring the bells / Soft she whispers to the flowers, / "Let me ring your bonny bells! / No; I'm only a little child, / Let me ring your little bells, / Harebells, blue bells, ring, / Set a-going, little child, / on the whole hillside? / ring, if my darling tried? / child blue-gowned / little hands embrowned / you; ring out! / flower should flout? / make it bloom in song / chimes, delicate ding-dong; / never caught nor sung; / little hares have rung! / bending o'er them there, / I'm a little hare! / but I love you so! / just to say you know!" / ring again! / the joyance of the strain. / E.H. Hickey.; two vertical columns, column break following 'Set a-going, little child'. Verso; watercolour; And the wild-Roses of the promontory / Around me shuddered in the wind, and shed / Their petals of pale red. / There was an old belief that in the embers / Of all things their primordial form exists, / And cunning alchemists / Could recreate the Rose with all its members / From its own ashes, but without the bloom, / Without the lost perfume, / Ah me! what wonder-working, occult science / Can from the ashes in our hearts once more / The Rose of youth restore? / Longfellow / Palingenesis. / And the rose, like a nymph to the bath addressed

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Inscription surrounded by floral border: Harebell. Inscription surrounded by floral border: Rose. Bicknell, Clarence (British, 1842-1918). Watercolour over graphite on paper, height, leaf, 326 mm, width, leaf, 255 mm, 1908. Part of: A Posy. Vellum-bound sketchbook containing leaves with an index at the end. Cover with brown leather ornamentation and remains of vellum closure straps. Inscription(s): Recto, upper right; watercolour; 107. Recto; watercolour; ....Not a hare to right the bells / Could she make the harebells / Harebells, harebells, a little / Stands and listens longingly; / Touch you; rose mouth kisses / Is a little child a thing any Child's hand or poet's heart / Let her hear your fairy / Let her hear what poet's voice / Let a child ring the bells / Soft she whispers to the flowers, / "Let me ring your bonny bells! / No; I'm only a little child, / Let me ring your little bells, / Harebells, blue bells, ring, / Set a-going, little child, / on the whole hillside? / ring, if my darling tried? / child blue-gowned / little hands embrowned / you; ring out! / flower should flout? / make it bloom in song / chimes, delicate ding-dong; / never caught nor sung; / little hares have rung! / bending o'er them there, / I'm a little hare! / but I love you so! / just to say you know!" / ring again! / the joyance of the strain. / E.H. Hickey.; two vertical columns, column break following 'Set a-going, little child'. Verso; watercolour; And the wild-Roses of the promontory / Around me shuddered in the wind, and shed / Their petals of pale red. / There was an old belief that in the embers / Of all things their primordial form exists, / And cunning alchemists / Could recreate the Rose with all its members / From its own ashes, but without the bloom, / Without the lost perfume, / Ah me! what wonder-working, occult science / Can from the ashes in our hearts once more / The Rose of youth restore? / Longfellow / Palingenesis. / And the rose, like a nymph to the bath addressed

Image data

Accession Number: PD.8-1980.f.55
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/19.0
Focal length: 80
Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
Photographer name: Sam Cole
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 813 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
Filesize: 521.10kB
Exposure time: 1/125
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 19/1

Key words

20th Century bell flower Bellflower Bicknell blue botanical British School Campanula Campanulaceae Clarence Bicknell drawing Fitz_PDP floral flowers handwriting handwritten harebell illustrated illustration poem poetry poets sketch sketchbook verses watercolour writing

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2026)
            "Inscription surrounded by floral border: Harebell, by Clarence Bicknell"
            Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-3298918559 Accessed: 2026-01-14 19:26:19

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