THE idea of picking up an original drawing by John Constable for £25 may seem ridiculous now - but an auction in Dorset next month shows that just such a bargain passed through a Bournemouth dealer's hands as recently as 1968.

And that is not all. Alister Mathews, who died in 1985, kept meticulous records of every oil and watercolour painting and every drawing he handled while working in the town from the 1950s onwards.

They included works by an extraordinary array of artists, including Edward Burne-Jones, James Whistler, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Edwin Landseer, Richard Dadd, Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, H M Bateman, Edward Lear and Punch cartoonists.

Mr Mathews made sure each picture was professionally photographed and annotated with details such as the artist's name and dates, whether the picture was signed, how big it was, how much it sold for and who bought it. Some of the photographs were duplicated so he could send copies to interested buyers.

Now about 2,000 different photos from his archive, representing around 400 different British artists, are due to come under the hammer at Dalkeith Auctions in Bournemouth on April 7.

The seller is a private collector from North Dorset who bought the fascinating photos in a house clearance several years ago but now wants to make more space in his home.

Among the gems from the collection is a photograph of an intriguing Constable drawing of the River Avon, with Christchurch Priory in the distance, bought by Mathews for just £50 and sold for £90 in April 1964.

Although mainly associated with the area around his Suffolk birthplace, Constable also travelled to Salisbury, Christchurch and Weymouth to paint landscapes.

  • Did you know Alister Mathews? Email joanna.codd@bournemouthecho.co.uk or ring 01202 411296.