The black joke!!, or, The Jew harper and demi-rep countess alias, The amorous chambermaid, in her cabin, on board the polacre. [graphic]

Description

Title: The black joke!!, or, The Jew harper and demi-rep countess alias, The amorous chambermaid, in her cabin, on board the polacre. [graphic]
Alternative Title: Jew harper and demi-rep countess
Contributor: Fairburn, John, 1768 or 1769-1832, publisher.
Published / Created: [September 1820]
Publication Place: London
Publisher: Published September 1820 by John Fairburn, Broadway, Ludgate Hill
Abstract: "A man dressed as a Turk plays a harp, while a woman seated beside him, puts her arm round him, pointing to an open music-book inscribed 'Black Joke [a coarse song]. Fol de rol lol &c.' Behind them is a berth let into the wall of the cabin. She says: "Macher [sic] Amie you play dot charming tune again, and den we go to bed!!" He sings: "Fol de rol lol, . . ." [&c.]. She is Louise Demont, a Swiss femme-de-chambre, a leading witness against the Queen; her evidence, like Majocchi's, was much damaged in cross-examination. She called herself Colombier, from her native place, and had been styled while in England 'Countess Colombier'. She was with the Princess on the Syrian journey, and was cross-examined (1 Sept.) as to her personal knowledge of the sleeping-place of a Jew harper who went on board the polacca at Tunis. 'Parl. Deb.', N.S. ii. 1158 f., 1166. See British Museum Satires Nos. 13864, 14121."--British Museum online catalogue
Description: Title etched below image.
Mounted to 58 x 39 cm.
Mounted on leaf 83 in volume 1 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair."
Figure of "Caroline" is incorrectly identified in ink below image; date "Sept. 1820" written in ink in lower right corner. Typed extract of five lines from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted beneath print.
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 : plate mark 35.1 x 24.8 cm, on sheet 35.6 x 25.2 cm
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Language: English