A free born Englishman!!! The glory of civilized life & the envy of Indian nations! / [graphic]

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Lewis Walpole Library > A free born Englishman!!! The glory of civilized life & the envy of Indian nations! / [graphic]

33116233

Description

Title: A free born Englishman!!! The glory of civilized life & the envy of Indian nations! / [graphic]
Alternative Title: Freeborn Englishman
Creator: Spence, William, -1797, printmaker
Contributor: Spence, Thomas, 1750-1814, publisher.
Published / Created: [1796]
Publication Place: London
Publisher: Publishd. by T. Spence, Turn Stile, Holborn
Abstract: A man in ragged clothes stands facing right, hunched forward under the weight of a basket of 'Rents' and 'Taxes' strapped to his back. His legs are shackled, his mouth is closed by a padlock, and his hands are tied behind him. Image enclosed within a circle
Description: Title etched above image.
Printmaker is likely the publisher Thomas Spence's son William, who was born in the early 1780s and died in 1797. See Oxford Dictionary of national biography, entry for Thomas Spence.
Probably a copy, with alterations, of a print published circa 1795 entitled "A freeborn Englishman, the admiration of the world, the envy of surrounding nations, &c. &c." See description for No. 8710 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 7.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Thomas Spence seems to have also issued copper tokens in 1796 with depictions of a similar shackled figure on one side. See for example British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: T.6498.
Not in Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum.
Provenance: Jarndyce; April 2023.
Extent: 1 print : image diameter 11 cm, on sheet 15.2 x 11 cm
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Language: English