The measure of happiness, or, A royal visit to the Dey of Tunis or the Great Plenipo [graphic].

Description

Title: The measure of happiness, or, A royal visit to the Dey of Tunis or the Great Plenipo [graphic].
Alternative Title: Royal visit to the Dey of Tunis or the Great Plenipo
Creator: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker
Contributor: Fores, S. W., publisher.
Published / Created: [20 July 1820]
Publication Place: London and England London
Publisher: Pub. July 20, 1820, by S.W. Fores, 50 Picadilli [sic]
Abstract: "The Dey of Tunis, a fat Turk, sits cross-legged on one mattress (left), the Princess of Wales, in Turkish costume, on another; her huge breasts are immodestly bare. He smokes a long pipe, and puffs smoke sideways towards his visitor with an inscrutable expression; beside him are coffee-pot and cup. She smokes a hookah; a bottle of 'Coniac' and a glass are beside her. A Tunisian with a long beard and baggy breeches stands between them, staring and bowing towards the Princess; he says: "His Highness Trusts the endeavours of his household for your Gratification is successful and that happiness in the Halb of the Faithfull attends you." She answers: "their Assiduities are unceasing I am as Happy as the Dey [altered to] Day is Long!!!" Behind her couch stands Bergami, in hussar costume with three orders; he scowls with clenched fists, saying: "this is an unfortunate Dey for me Othellos occupation's gone.""--British Museum online catalogue
Description: Title etched below image.
Attributed to William Heath in the British Museum catalogue.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Satire on George IV and Queen Caroline.
Printed on watermarked paper.
Window mounted to 24.3 x 34.3 cm, the whole then mounted to 58 x 39 cm.
Mounted (with one other print) on leaf 47 in volume 1 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair."
Figures of "Caroline" and "Bergami" identified below image in different hands, the former in ink and the latter in pencil; date "20 July 1820" written in ink in lower right. Typed extract of one line from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted at bottom of mounting sheet.
Provenance: Sold by London's Dulau and Company to the New York City bookseller Ernest R. Gee in 1928. Earlier ownership by W.E. Gladstone is suggested by a manuscript note from Dulau formerly laid into the front the first volume (now in the object file), which states that "These came from the Gladstone Library at Court Hey, Broad Green. The manuscript notes written below the caricatures are in the handwriting of W.E. Gladstone." William Reese Company; February 2024.
Extent: 1 print : sheet 23.1 x 33.2 cm
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Language: English