(American, 1834-1903) Rare and important early group of six drawings and an engraving executed by Whistler while a cadet at West Point, 1851-1854: top row; [Plebs Policing] and [A Caged Cadet] (M.124), 4-1/4 x 7 in.; [Russian Dragoons] (M. 125), 4-1/8 x 7-1/8 in.; second row; [Sam Weller and Mary fold a carpet] (M.135), 7-1/2 x 9-1/2 in.; [The Valentine], (M.136), 7-5/16 x 9-5/8 in., both drawings circa 1853 after Whistler read Charles Dickens' [Pickwick Papers]; third row; [West Point Drummer and sketches] (M.122), 6-3/4 x 4-1/8 in.; 1852 wood engraving for a dance card, inscriptions by another hand, 6-3/4 x 3-1/2 in.; [Cadet Life] (M.123), 6-3/4 x 4-1/16 in. [an area cut out of paper 1-3/16 x 1-3/16 in.], dark brown or black ink on paper; within one late 19th or early 20th century stained step molding geometric frame, all drawings and dance card engraving on card with toning, loose, small damp stains at bottoms. Notes: Exhibited: MacBeth Gallery, [Whistler 1834-1903: Loan Exhibition], April 14- May 10, 1947, New York, #47 as "Group of Pen-and-Ink drawings done when a Cadet at West Point", accompanied by exhibition catalog. Literature: Hinshaw, I.C. (1910, September) "Whistler's First Drawings.." [The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine] Vol. LXXX No. 5 pp 736-741, accompanied by a copy of the Magazine and a typewritten rough draft of the article. MacDonald, Marqaret F., [James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors, A Catalogue Raisonn?], Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1995, pp 36, 37, 40, 41.. Provenance: The artist to his friend, General William Robertson Boggs (1829-1911); Elizabeth "Bessie" Boggs Taylor (Mrs. William Barrett Taylor); Cornelia Storrs Taylor Long (Mrs. Ralph Long), Winston-Salem, North Carolina; by descent in the Sprunt and Taylor families of Wilmington and Winston Salem, North Carolina all drawings and dance card engraving on card with toning, loose, small damp stains at bottoms