How to obtain a request

A social satire: a beggar wearing ragged clothes and leaning on a crutch hold his hat out towards a old, well-dressed woman as he says, “My angelic young lady! Heaven preserve your ladyship’s beautiful shape and countenance these thousand years! Give a halfpenny to a poor old man.” Her face is caricatured, with a large pig-like nose from which long hairs protrude and with growths on her face, but she carries a parasol and is fashionably dressed and wears a feather and flower in her hair and earrings and large beaded necklace.

• Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles, printmaker, artist.
  
• Title: How to obtain a request [graphic] / Giles Grinagain invt. et fect.
  
• Publication: [London] : Published Febry. 1st, 1802, by S. Howitt, Panton Str., Haymarket, [1 February 1802]

Catalog Record 

802.02.01.07

Acquired November 2017

Stinking lobsters

A social satire: a woman in a apron and with a kerchief on her head is seated at a low table with a basket of lobsters; she holds out one lobster that is pulling a man’s nose, as she says “There d-n your Eyes, who stinks now?” He winces in pain and pushes back against her arm as he replies, “Begar he bite! Oh!!!”

• Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles, printmaker, artist.
  
• Title: Stinking lobsters [graphic] / Giles Grinagain in. et fect.
  
• Publication: [London] : Published Decbr. 1, 1801, by S. Howitt, Panton Street, [1 December 1801]

Catalog Record 

801.12.01.10

Acquired November 2017

Black eyed lovers

“Satire on servants; a scene in a pantry with a liveried servant retreating in horror from a stout woman, probably a cook; he holds his hand to his face which sports two black eyes and she, scowling in fury, extends her right fist.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Newton, Richard, 1777-1798, printmaker, artist.
  
• Title: Black eyed lovers [graphic] / drawn & etchd. by Rd. Newton.
  
• Publication: London : Pubd. by Willm. Holland, Oxford St., Novr. 1795.

Catalog Record 

795.11.00.01+

Acquired May 2017

What a nice bit!

A large black woman, smiling in her sleep, lies in a bed surrounded by bedcurtains. She wears a cap and earrings, and her large breasts hang out over her nightclothes. A thin old, white man also in nightclothes and a night cap ogles her by the candlelight from the candlestick he holds in his right hand.

• Printmaker: Newton, Richard, 1777-1798, printmaker.
  
• Title: What a nice bit! [graphic] / R. Newton delin.
  
• Publication: London : Pub. by W. Holland, Oxford St., July 8, 1796.

Catalog Record

796.07.08.01+

Acquired May 2017

The full moon in eclipse

An old man sits outdoors in an upholstered chair, looking through a telescope which is pointed up left to a black woman standing on a cliff with her dress pulled up and her large derrière bared. A dog sits by the man’s chair with a similar look on its face as it too looks up at the woman.

• Printmaker: Newton, Richard, 1777-1798, printmaker.
  
• Title: The full moon in eclipse [graphic] / desin’d & etch’d by Rd. Newton.
  
• Publication: London : Publish’d by W. Holland, Oxford St., May 8, 1797.

Catalog Record

797.05.08.02+

Acquired May 2017

The children of India worshiping the golden calf

“Indian men and women kneel before a large rectangular pedestal on which stands a golden calf with the head of Hastings. Three Indians lie on the pedestal at Hastings’s feet, making gestures of despair and entreaty. From his mouth protrudes a sword (left) inscribed ‘The Brand of Devastation’. On his back sits Wilkes facing the tail (right) which he lifts with one hand; in the other is the cap of ‘Liberty’ in which he catches large jewels excreted by the Golden Calf. He wears a livery gown and says: “Who would not wipe a Calf’s Backside, To gain the Sparks of Eastern Pride”. At the Calf’s feet lie a crown, sceptre, and orb, with (?) scimitars. On the ground and on the extreme left a well-dressed man stands before an altar holding a knife which drips blood over the altar; he says, pointing to an Indian who lies at his feet, stabbed through the heart: ‘When British Judges rule the Coast, The Natives must obey, No palliative means we boast, By G——you die or pay’. In the foreground (right) stand Thurlow and a military officer. The Chancellor, who wears his wig and robe, is blindfolded; in his right hand he holds erect the ‘Sword of Justice’, which is being taken from him by the officer who holds a diamond against the blade. In Thurlow’s left hand is a bag inscribed ‘Gold Moors’; he says: “Which Powerful God my wavering mind controuls, And my Sage Brows with Golden bands infolds, ‘Tis Mammons self I can be Just no more, Take thou the Sword give me the Golden Store”. The officer, who wears a wallet or haversack inscribed ‘Diamonds’, says: “So shall we Triumph while the Diamond’s smile, Can melt the Soul and Justice’s beguile.” Three Indians who kneel in the foreground below the pedestal of the Golden Calf are offering money (a bag inscribed ‘Gold Moors’) and jewel-boxes to Hastings.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Title: The children of India worshiping the golden calf [graphic] : this be thy God O India! who has brought thee to the verge of destruction.
  
• Publication:[ London] : Publish’d May 15, 1788, by J. Berry, No. 129 Oxford Road, [15 May 1788]

Catalog Record 

Drawer 788.05.15.01

Acquired October 2017

The bear broke loose

“A muzzled bear sits up, as if begging, on a fat woman who lies on her back. She says: “Gemini! what a Weight! my poor dear Mr Dripping was quite a Feather to him”. The bear’s keeper (right) raises his club, saying, “Down Bruin! I’ll teach you to ride the high Horse”. A dog (right) springs towards the bear. A man (left) runs off, saying, “D——m me I’ll be off! . . . [etc.]”.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles, printmaker, artist.
  
• Title:The bear broke loose [graphic] / Giles Grinagain invt. et fect.
  
• Publication:[London] : Published Decbr. 20th, 1801, by S. Howitt, Panton Street, [20 December 1801]

Catalog Record 

801.12.20.03

Acquired November 2017

The itinerant chancellor

Four rows of designs with one to three designs in each, individually titled.

• Creator: Grant, C. J. (Charles Jameson), active 1830-1852, lithographer, artist.
  
• Title: The itinerant chancellor [graphic] ; [and 9 other designs] / C.J. Grant invent., del. & lith.
  
• Publication: London : Published by J. Kendrick, 54 Leicester Square …, [1 October 1834]
  
• Manufacture: [London] : Printed by Dean & Munday …

Catalog Record 

834.10.01.01+

Acquired November 2017

Christmass boxes

A satire, divided into quarters, with four small scenes of different episodes of persons trying to collect their Christmas boxes. In the first square in the upper left, a plump supplicant in an apron holds out his hat to a scowling-faced man with a kerchief tied over his hat and a walking stick under his arm as they meet in a road outside a building with a lamp. Behind him on the wall is a sign posted “Miser’. In response to the request, the miser says “Give you a Christmass box. Curse you don’t I pay you for your meat.” On the top row, right, a thin man (a grave digger?) with a pipe in his mouth, bows to an obese clergyman, with a fat dog at his heel, as they stand in the graveyard of a church. The gravedigger asks, “Most worthy Parson give me a Christmass box.” The Parson replies, “Give you a halter you rascal. What should I give you a Christmass box for.” In the lower left, clergyman shakes his walking stick at a surprised man who is carrying a large box on his back and secured with a strap over his forehead. The clergyman says to the laborer, “If you ever ask me for a Christmass box again, I’ll physic you to death.” They are standing in front of building with a lantern and sign that reads “Gargle Apothycary.” The fourth square, lower right, shows old, hag-faced woman with a hat and muff standing in a parlor as she slaps the face of an astonished footman. She tells him, “Take that you saucy rascal for a Xmass box!” He replies, “What’s that for. I did not want a box on the ear, not I.”

• Printmaker: Newton, Richard, 1777-1798, printmaker, artist.
  
• Title: Christmass boxes [graphic] / drawn & etchd. by Rd. Newton.
  
• Publication: London : Pubd. by Wm. Holland, 50 Oxford St., Decemr. 25, 1794.

Catalog Record 

794.12.25.02+

Acquired May 2017

The wedding day

“The fat, moustached, Duchess of St. Albans and the slim Duke dance with vigour and agility, each poised on the left toe, arms interlaced, and hands meeting above their heads. From the Duchess’s small coronet rise giant ostrich feathers which curve above the heads of both and above which a big ducal coronet is suspended. He sings: My Wife shall dance, And I will sing so merry we’ll pass this_ day. She: For I hold it one of the wisest things to drive dull care away–. The musicians are two cynical cupids; one (left) sits on large sacks of sovereigns inscribed Cash; coins pour from a slit in a sack and lie on the carpet with a banker’s money-scoop. He fiddles: Money in both pockets. The other (right), seated on the apex of a huge melon from which a slice has been cut, plays bagpipes: And auld Robin Gray [Coutts] was a gued Old Man to me! with variations.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Heath, Henry, active 1824-1850, printmaker.
  
• Title: The wedding day [graphic] / H. Heath delt
  
• Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], published June 28, 1827.

Catalog Record 

827.06.28.01+

Acquired April 2017