Cotmania. Vol. IV. 1929-30

18 Cheyne Gardens,
Chelsea, S.W.
May 8th 1930

Dear Sydney.
I gather from certain signs that the argonauts have returned + probably you have accompanied them; unless you are chasing the ghost of Cotman from Havre to Brest. I can therefore thank you for a friendly greeting on a post card. It reached me suitably enough at Thonock where Lupton & I were going thro the drawings from A to Z & some champagne of faded quality began to produce reminiscences of bygone Leeds.
But that has been my only Cotmanist adventure & not an entirely satisfactory one. The blue Cotman has failed to maintain its early promise (1902 or 1903) and unrevealed wonders of subsequent performance do not arise. It is for you now to find them. Absolutely nothing appears in London & unless something happens you will have to revive Queen Victoria or begin a study of Calamis or Demophon.
Lupton, as you know, has unearthed an unrecorded side of J. R. Cozens & is busy turning Cinderellas among the Townes into fair princesses. I don't think that Duke has been very busy but he is secretive until the proper moment arrives. Girtin claims no discoveries. Possibly all the drawings have gone to Japan where Binyon's visit, after producing a sumptuous volume, has possibly created a furore for the English watercolour; or are lying hidden in the hope that Randall scavenging now for Melbourne will buy them for an enormous price.
Really things have been very dull. I have only bought figure