Run neighbours, run, St. Al-ns is quadrilling it

“The Duchess of St. Albans, immensely fat, florid, and bejewelled, and a stout elderly naval officer wearing loose wide trousers, and apparently doing hornpipe steps, his hands on his hips, dance side by side with rollicking abandon. The others of the set: one man and two ladies on the left and one lady and two men on the right dance rigidly erect, and watch the central pair with hauteur; the men are dandies, the women slim and fashionable. The duchess has a swirling paradise-plume in her towering loops of hair, above tossing ringlets.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  
• Title: Run neighbours, run, St. Al-ns is quadrilling it [graphic] / [man with an umbrella] Esq.
  
• Publication: [London] : Pub. by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket, May 1829.

Catalog Record 

829.05.00.08+

Acquired October 2018

A short ride in the Long Walk, or, The ponies posed!!

“George IV drives Lady Conyngham in a four-wheeled pony-chaise. He is chubbily obese, in loose trousers and braided jacket, wearing a cap poised on his naturalistic curls (cf. British Museum Satires no. 14637). He turns to the enormously corpulent lady. Both overweight the little chaise, and the very small ponies strain desperately. Behind and on the extreme left is the head of the horse ridden by an attendant. They have just passed a gate with a small octagonal lodge. The drive is bordered by a paling; in the background are stags.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  
• Title: A short ride in the Long Walk, or, The ponies posed!! [graphic].
  
• Publication: [London] : Pub. March 28, 1824, by S.W. Fores, 41 Picadilly [sic], London, [28 March 1824]

Catalog Record

824.03.28.01+

Acquired October 2018

[Album of etchings by the Ingram sisters]

A volume of etchings by three daughters of art collector John Ingram 1767-1841) of Staindrop Hall in County Durham — Elizabeth Christian Ingram (1795-), Caroline Ingram (1800-1819), and Augusta Isabella Ingram (1802-) — who were living in Venice and took instruction from Venetian etcher Francesco Novellli whose own etchings were in manner of Rembrandt and whose influence can be seen in the sisters’ etchings. The style of the various impressions are very similar and were apparently made within a fairly short period if the dated prints are any indication, all bearing the date 1816 with some of the prints bound in first dated February 1816 and then March 1816. This dating seems to be confirmed by a contemporary inscription on the front free endpaper: “These are the works of the Miss Ingrams’ from their first lesson, 18…” Only five of the prints are unsigned; several impressions are in two or more states, using brown and black inks and various stocks of paper, a few bearing a British watermark and date of 1814. Some of the prints have been mounted, but most have been printed directly on contiguous leaves forming the signatures of the volume.

• Title: [Album of etchings by the Ingram sisters] [graphic].
  
• Created: [Italy], [1816]

Catalog Record 

Quarto 75 In54 816

Acquired December 2018

The unexpected visit

“The King, in Chinese costume and seated on a cushion, among the chinoiseries of the Pavilion (cf. British Museum Satires No. 12749), throws up his arms in terror at the entry (right) of the Queen, closely followed by Alderman Wood. Her demure dress contrasts with that of a woman, who, much alarmed, runs off to the left from beside the King. Sidmouth (left) and Castlereagh (right), both in Chinese dress, are equally terrified, and Lord Eldon peeps anxiously from behind a little pagoda. Both visitors extend an arm towards the King in an authoritative gesture. Words float from them towards the King: ‘Nothing extenuate nor set down aught in Malice [Othello, v. ii] men sleeping with her at Black Heath 1808 v. call Hoods [sic].'”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  
• Title: The unexpected visit, or, More free than welcome [graphic].
  
• Publication: [London] : Pub. June 17th, 1820, by S.W. Fores, 50 Picadilli [sic], [17 June 1820]

Catalog Record 

820.06.17.01+

Acquired October 2018

Preliminaries of peace, or, Politicians puzzled

“Members of the Opposition in a row, talk in couples, except for the arch-egotist Erskine (see British Museum satires no. 9246) on the extreme left, who exclaims: “Peace – and I not consulted ’tis very strange, by Gad”. Sheridan (left), seated in profile to the right, reads the ‘Gazzette Extraordina[ry] Peace! Peace!’ with an expression of dismay. He says: “It is here, sure enough, I can scarcely believe my eyes, then all my fine speeches respecting the continuance of the War is dish’d, its no farce.” Burdett stands with legs astride looking down at him; he says: “O it can’t be true depend upon it.” The centre pair, Fox and Bedford, face each other in profile. Fox says: “This is a curious kind of business. I heard of it at the Crown and Anchor.” Bedford, in top-boots, and a riding whip under his arm, answers: “I heard of it in Bedfordshire.” On the right little Lord Derby turns to Tierney, asking, “Pray who is this Peace Maker – this Mr A- Ad, Ad, what’s his name, I never can think of it dam my Wig” [he is almost bald, with a tiny pigtail]. Tierney, looking down morosely, his arms folded, answers: “I really cannot immediately recollect, but I know he is not one of us – however we can find it in the Red Book”.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Roberts, Piercy, active 1791-1805, printmaker.
  
• Title: Preliminaries of peace, or, Politicians puzzled [graphic] / Woodward delin. ; etchd. by Roberts.
  
• Publication: London : Pubd. by P. Roberts, 28 Middle Row, Holborn, [ca. October 1801]

Catalog Record 

801.10.00.03+

Acquired June 2018

Collection of letters from Thomas Dibdin…

Sixteen letters, all dating from 1819, that provide detailed view of the negotations over a very limited time period. The subjects of the letters include: Enquiring as to the terms for renting the theatre, suggesting that his figure of £10,000 per annum to include all the costumes and fixtures and fittings was quite sufficient; asking for a list of the present engagements and expenses; offering a further £3,000 to refurbish the theatre; vouching for the integrity of his backers (‘their sole motive is the placing me unconditionally and without controul as entire Manager & Conductor & principal Partner in the concern’); informing the committee sub rosa that Mr [Abraham] Walker of [Doyley’s Warehouse] the Strand would give security, expecting to take £200 for 200 nights [i.e. £40,000]; suggesting in July that he may be able to make a more advantageous offer; inviting Ward to lunch and dinner and to discuss business with Walker, and the following day putting forward the new proposal: (‘… I agree to pay the Taxes for the whole term in addition to a Rent of £9000 per An: for the first Two years and £10,000 per An: for the Remainder of the Term to be agreed on, which Term (considering the very discouraging and totally reduced state of the Theatre at present and that it will take a very long time to re-establish it) ought to be at the option of the Lessee, for seven, fourteen or twenty one years. …’). Dibdin continues the correspondence on 23 July by questioning why he has received no response to the proposition, and on the 31st putting forward to the committee a further offer of a loan from Walker (also included is Walker’s own proposition, dated 22 July); with two incompletely dated letters of 1919 to R. Peatre complaining that he (Peatre) should not have been given confidential information relating to the offer for the lease. Together with other Dibdin-relating material, including: Three Autograph Letters Signed from the dramatist Cecil Pitt to Winstone (?James Winston) and the Board of Management of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, (watermarked 1801 and postmarked 1804) concerning his own productions, and particularly Zingara, or the Heroine of China, for which he includes the printed playbill; also three letters of George Dibdin Pitt (1795-1855 – ‘I am the elder brother of Mr Pitt the Painter – and nephew of the Dibdins’), offering his services and those of Miss Pitt-Phillips (‘of the Worthing and Leicester Theatres’) to Elliston and Drury Lane, and elaborating on his theatrical achievements, 1826 and 1830 where dated.

• Title: Collection of letters from Thomas Dibdin, Cecil Pitt and George Dibdin Pitt, relating to Drury Lane Theatre, 1804, 1819, 1826, and undated.

Catalog Record 

LWL Mss Group 6

Acquired July 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 English ambassador and his suite before the King at Madrid, 1790

“The King of Spain sits on a circular dais under a canopy, turning his head away from the English ambassador (left), a stout John Bull wearing top-boots behind whom stand four pugilists. Three Spaniards with pikes stand on the extreme right behind the throne, and three courtiers stand in the background. The King wears a short tunic and ruff with a feathered hat; all the Spaniards have long upturned moustaches, all look dismayed. Three of the pugilists are inscribed: ‘Big Ben’ [Benjamin Brain], ‘Humphries’, and ‘Mendoza’; the fourth is Ward. Beneath the design is etched: ‘Great Sir, I am arrived from Albion’s Court, Who have taken in Dudgeon what you may think Sport; So it may for the present; but we’ll soon make it appear, You’ll have reason to laugh the wrong side of your ear! Our Traders in Nootka, by some of your Curs, Were all sent to Quod and robb’d of their Furs, Your right so to do which you claim from the Pope, We Britons dont value the end of a rope! It’s a farce you may make your weak Subjects believe, But our right’s equal to yours from Adam and Eve. Therefore if you don’t make us immediate amends, No longer can we look upon you as Friends, Should you wish for a War we have got a new race, Of such brave fighting fellows, not the Devil dare face! A sample I’ve brought, only four of our men, Mendoza, Dick Humphries, Joe Ward, and Big Ben: So great is their power each Lad with one blow, Would knock down an Ox, or twelve Spaniards lay low, At home we can raise twelve hundred like these, That would crush all your Troops as easy as fleas. For Centuries past England’s rul’d o’er the main, And if it please Heavn’n hope to do so again. Thus with Sailors and Bruisers we your power defy, Being determin’d to conquer or fight till we die!'”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Creator: Byron, Frederick George, 1764-1792, attributed name.
  
• Title: The English ambassador and his suite before the King at Madrid, 1790 [graphic] / J.N. 1790.
  
• Publication: London : Pubd. by Wm. Holland, No. 50 Oxford St., May 12, 1790.

Catalog Record 

790.05.12.01+

Acquired May 2017

Moments of pleasure

“Companion plate to British Museum Satires no. 13988. Seated on a sofa, the Queen, wearing a large feathered hat, receives the news of the dropping of the Bill; beside her is a paper: ‘Bill of Pains Thrown out’. Alderman Wood, in a furred gown more elegant than civic, capers before her, holding up his arms, snapping his fingers, and grinning with delight. The Queen looks up at him, with a gesture of surprised satisfaction; she is caricatured, but better characterized than in other prints, resembling the description given by Creevey of her appearance at the trial on 17 Aug. She sits facing a long scroll on which names of places presenting Addresses are inscribed (see British Museum Satires no. 13934, &c.): ‘London’ (in large letters), ‘Westminster’, ‘So[uthwark]’. On the wall behind her is a (flattering) bust portrait of Bergami, wearing his decorations (see British Museum Satires no. 13810). In the doorway (left) are the leading members of a body of proletarian addressers; the foremost, with the curved shin-bones known as ‘cheesecutters’ which resulted from rickets, holds a paper: ‘Address to the Queen’; they are received by a thin, sour-looking lady, evidently Lady Anne Hamilton. They have two banners: ‘Queer Fellows’ and ‘St Gi[les]’, but among them is the profile of Hobhouse, the radical M.P. for Westminster. Over the wide doorway is a picture or relief of two little puppets on a string: the King and Queen performing antics while the string is pulled by a fiddler and another man, watched by two bystanders. The room (in Brandenburgh House) is ornately furnished; a heavy curtain is draped round a pillar.”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  
• Title: Moments of pleasure [graphic].
  
• Publication: [London] : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., 1820 [ca. November]

Catalog Record 

820.11.00.02

Acquired March 2017

Bergami’s little darling

“Queen Caroline, stout and raddled, with black ringlets, stands full-face and four-square, bending forward as if bowing, with a fixed stare from black beady eyes. She wears the feathered hat (caricatured) of the ‘trial’, and a fur-bordered pelisse. Under her right arm is a rolled document, ‘List of [Addres]ses’; in her left hand she awkwardly raises her skirts in order to bow. She stands on a grass plot in front of Brandenburgh House. Below the design: … ‘Lo! yonder she walketh in maiden sweetness, with innocence on her mind and modesty in her cheek.– Her hand seeketh employment; her foot delighteth not in gadding abroad.– She is cloathed with neatness; she is fed with temperance; humility and meekness are as a crown of glory circling her head.– Her breast is the mansion of goodness; and therefere [sic] she suspecteth no evil in others.– Decency is in all her words; in her answers are mildness and truth.– Submission and obedience are the lessons of her life; and peace and happiness are her rewards.– Before her steps walketh Prudence; and Virtue attendeth at her right hand. Her eye speaketh softness and love; but discretion with a sceptre sitteth on her brow.– The tongue of the licentious is dumb in her presence; the awe of her virtue keepeth him silent.– Happy Bartolomeo [Bergami]!!! he putteth his heart in her bosom, and receiveth Comfort.– Thus the prudence of her management is an honor to her husband, and he must hear her praise with silent delight.–!!!'”–British Museum online catalogue, description of a variant state.

• Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  
• Title: Bergami’s little darling [graphic].
  
• Publication: London : Published by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., Jany. 25, 1821.

Catalog Record

821.01.25.01

Acquired March 2017