Four sketchbooks containing several hundred sketches and designs, most in pencil, some in pencil and water colour, contemporary cloth-backed marbled boards, Includes architectural and engineering studies and a number of ironwork and implement (domestic and agricultural) designs. German-born Weissenborn (1898-1982) spent the first half of his life in Leipzig and the second in London. He was forced to flee Germany in 1939. Unlike many of his fellow refugees, he never lost his sense of German heritage. After conscription into service in World War I he returned home with diaries and sketchbooks and enrolled at the world-famous Leipzig Academy of Graphic and Book Arts, studying art, typography, and printmaking. Artistic success came early, and soon he moved up into the staff, becoming one of the Academy's youngest professors. When the Nazis took power, he lost his post for marrying a Jewish woman and was forced to leave Germany. In Britain, he struggled to find work, and was interned for six months on the Isle of Man in 1940. On release he embarked on a new phase in his career as printmaker, teacher, and publisher. Weissenborn was among a number of German émigré artists who had a unique opportunity to contribute to the British art world through their creativity, craftsmanship, and innovation. Fine in slipcase. A superb archive of sketches.