Harry The Pencil’s Sketchbook
May 11, 2025
Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s tours
When I visited Harry the Pencil in Mile End once, he showed me this modest little sketchbook that he filled when he was working in Great Sutton St, Clerkenwell, undertaking a single half hour drawing each lunch hour – most are nearby his office but you will spot a few further afield in Soho, Kings Cross, Hatton Garden & Spitalfields.
Drawings copyright © Estate of Harry Harrison
4 Responses
leave one →
Marvellous, unparalleled sketching and use of parallel lines. How I would like to be able to draw as well! But such skill escapes me, alas!
There is a huge amount of detail in these wonderful drawings, a very talented artist.
There is great modesty in this title, “A lunchtime sketchbook” — but the notable ability of the artist is totally on display. Although these are described as sketches, dare I say they seem more like “draftings”, they are so crisp, architectural, descriptive, and resolved. I love the way the lines seem to transition, one to another — and blocks of pattern (checkerboard, Rose window, shutters) are so skillfully placed. As someone once said: “What to leave in, what to leave out……?”. I also enjoyed the jottings and quips, making this an even-more personal document. My hat is off to Mr. Harrison, who turned his lunch break into an artistic reverie.
A wonderful talent. I am in awe.