E.A. Burbank pencil sketch descriptions

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the above Orcas Island map (without the red number locators), published by Fred T. Darvill in 1946; is available here

Brief geography of Orcas Island

Orcas is the largest of the 172 named islands that constitute the county of San Juan in the state of Washington. It lies, approximately, in the north of the San Juan archipelago, not all of which is included in the county, and which, contrary to popular usage, is not in the Puget Sound area. Puget Sound lies to the south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, while to the north is Washington Sound, which encircles the San Juan islands, centering in, approximately, north latitude 48 degrees and 30 minutes and west longitude 123 degrees.

Orcas is 80 miles north of Seattle as the crow flies and it has a different and better climate. It is cooler in summer, warmer in winter and less bedeviled by fogs at all seasons. It also has nearly half the amount of rainfall.

Brief history of E.A. Burbank sketches of Orcas Island

Fred T. Darvill was a rare print dealer in San Francisco in the 1920s and 1930s. It was there that he made the acquaintance of Mr. Burbank and began a friendship & business relationship that was to last several decades. While in San Francisco, Darvill commissioned Burbank to draw many tourist scenes, which he then had reproduced and sold in his print shop. Darvill moved from San Francisco and opened Darvill's Rare Print Shop on Orcas Island, Washington in 1942. He still maintained a close relationship with Mr. Burbank, buying many of his original paintings & continuing to commission him to do drawings. He invited Burbank to come to Orcas Island & do sketches of local scenes. Of these, he only reproduced one (of the village of Eastsound - not shown - which is in private ownership.) The others are shown below.