STREET DOGS: A Collection of Drawings from the Street Books of the English Artist Harold Riley.

First edition. Signed, inscribed and with an original ink drawing of two dogs by Harold Riley. Original illustrated grey card wrappers with French flaps. Profusely illustrated throughout in black and white. A better than very good copy, the binding square and firm with a minor splash mark and a few small creases to the spine. The contents are clean and bright throughout and remain free from any previous owners' inscriptions or stamps.

Signed and inscribed by Harold Riley in black ink to the front free endpaper "Two dogs for / Joyce: / Christmas 97 / Harold", accompanied by a splendid original ink drawing by the artist of two entwined dogs. Born in Salford in 1934, Riley won a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art in 1951, subsequently winning travel scholarships to Italy and Spain. A close friend of L.S. Lowry since his student days, the main purpose of Riley's work, much like Lowry's, is to document the life of his beloved home city. Riley is, however, also known as a prominent portraitist, having undertaken notable commissions for portraits of Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Prince Philip, and several popes, amongst many others. The present work forms a collection of his drawings of 'street dogs', documenting the personalities and exploits of the various canines that he encountered in and around Salford. The original drawing on the front endpaper of the present copy, like the other illustrations in the book, displays Riley's inimitable warmth and wit, creating fully-formed vignettes of canine characters with just a few strokes of his typically energetic line. The recipient, Lady Joyce Montgomery, was a Conservative councillor and at the time of presentation High Sheriff of Greater Manchester. She was married to Sir Fergus Montgomery (1927-2013), a Conservative member of Parliament for more than thirty years, who twice served as Margaret Thatcher's Parliamentary Private Secretary. A wonderful copy, rare with an original drawing.