"Design in an oval. Dr. Johnson, the head in profile to the right, with an owl's body and ass's ears, stands on two books, the lower his 'Dictionary', the upper his 'Lives of the Poets'. The busts of poets stand on brackets (right) above Johnson's head, each is irradiated with a star-shaped halo. They are "Pope", "Milton", a third head wearing a laurel wreath, the inscription concealed by Johnson's head; a fourth halo (left) is visible. These are "the stars" at which Johnson is blinking, but, though screwing up his eyes short-sightedly, he is not looking at them. The back wall, at right angles to the wall on which the busts are placed, is covered with bookshelves, in which folio volumes lean against one another. An open book lying beside the 'Dictionary' is 'Beauties of Johnson'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Gillray in the British Museum catalogue., Temporary local subject terms: Books amplifying subject: Lives of the poets, Johnson's Dictionary, Beauties of Johnson., 1 print : etching with stipple on wove paper, hand-colored ; sheet 22.3 x 19.1 cm., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., and Mounted on leaf 14 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. March 10th, 1782, by W. Rennie
Subject (Name):
Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784, Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744, and Milton, John, 1608-1674
"A three quarter length portrait of Dr. Messenger Monsey walking towards the spectator; his right arm rests on the shoulder of a Chelsea pensioner; both men walk with sticks. Monsey wears a hat and wig, the pensioner holds his hat in his right hand. The background is the north front of Chelsea Hospital showing its pediment and eastern portion. This is very freely sketched, as are two pensioners with crutches by the doorway. Beneath the title is etched: 'Epitaph on the late Dr Monsey, supposed to have been written by himself. Here lie my old limbs - my vexation now ends, For I've liv'd much too long for myself & my Friends As to church-yards & grounds which the Parsons call holy, Tis a rank piece of priestcraft, & founded on folly; In short, I despise them; and as for my Soul, Which may mount the last day with my bones from this hole I think that it really hath nothing to fear From the God of mankind, whom I truly revere. What the next world may be, little troubles my pate If not better than this, I beseech thee, Oh! Fate, When the bodies of millions fly up in a riot, To let the old carcase of Monsey lie quiet. Peter Pindar.'"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Peep into the last century and Epitaph on the late Dr. Monsey, supposed to be written by himself
Description:
Title etched above image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Temporary local subject terms: Chelsea Hospital: exterior, north front -- Dr. Messenger Monsey's epitaph -- Chelsea pensioners' uniforms -- Clock on pediment of Chelsea Hospital., Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Dissection -- Veteran's hospitals., 1 print : etching on wove paper ; plate mark 31.6 x 27.8 cm, on sheet 38.4 x 29.0 cm., Watermark: J. Whatman., and Mounted on leaf 53 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. Jany. 19th, 1789, by H. Humphrey, New Bond St.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Monsey, Messenger, 1693-1788 and Royal Hospital (Chelsea, London, England),
Subject (Topic):
Hospitals, Clocks & watches, Physicians, Crutches, and Veterans
An old French woman wearing sabots walks to the right carrying a large sack strapped to her back
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker identified as Gillray in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., 1 print : etching on laid paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 21.4 x 16.4 cm, on sheet 23.4 x 18.3 cm., and Mounted on leaf 35 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. Novr. 10th, 1786, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Half-length portrait in an oval, Philip Thicknessee looking right, frowning and brow knit
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Variant state, with a verse contained in a scroll above Thicknesse's portrait, of frontispiece from Curious facts and anecdotes not contained in the memoirs of Philip Thicknesse ..., Two lines of text quoted from Horace below title: "Absentem qui rodit amicum, "hic niger est, hune, tu Romane caveto! Horat., Four lines of verse in a scroll above image begin: No ties can hold him, no affection bind ..., Sheet partially trimmed within plate mark., 1 print : etching & stipple engraving on wove paper ; oval image 8.5 x 6.9 cm, on plate 14.8 x 9.5 cm, on sheet 15.8 x 10.8 cm., and Mounted on leaf 68 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. Septr. 14th, 1790, by J. Ridgway, York Street, St. James's Sque
"A more elaborate version of British Museum satire no. 5611 drawn with more freedom. A joint of beef hangs on the wall behind John Bull; a bundle of frogs behind the Frenchman. The Frenchman holds an open snuff-box instead of a bowl of soup; a laced hat is under his arm; he wears a bag-wig. John Bull's tankard is inscribed "John Bull the Buttock of Beef. . ." Beneath the design is etched: "With Porter Roast Beef & Plumb Pudding well cram'd, Jack English declares that Monsr may be D------d. The Soup Meagre Frenchman such Language dont suit, So he Grins Indignation & calls him a Brute.""--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Approximate date of publication from British Museum online catalogue., Another publication line, "Pubd. by J. Aitken, No. 14 Castle Street, London," has been nearly obliterated at bottom of plate by several etched lines forming the lower border., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., 1 print : etching on wove paper ; plate mark 20.0 x 27.4 cm, on sheet 22.0 x 29.6 cm., Watermark: J. Whatman 1811., and Mounted on leaf 5 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. by H. Humphrey, St. James Street
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), National characteristics, English, and National characteristics, French
"Caricature portrait of a man standing in profile to the right. He holds his hat awkwardly in his right. hand, his left. is thrust into his waistcoat, his toes are much turned out. He wears a thin pigtail queue. From his pocket hangs some object resembling a syringe. Beneath the title is etched, "Beg your pardon my Dear Sir - had it from my Lud Fiddle faddle, nothing to do but cut 'em off pass the Susquhanna and proceed to Boston possess himself of Crown point then - Philadelphia, and South Carolina woud have fallen of course - & a communication opend with the Northern Army - as easyly as I'd open a Vein.""--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Prattle the political apothecary
Description:
Title etched below image., Questionably attributed to Gillray in the British Museum catalogue., Mongrammatic signature 'MD' within design might refer to Matthew Darly, who possibly died the previous year (1778). See DNB., Initial letters of publisher's name form a monogram., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Mounted on leaf 3 of volume 7 of 12.
"Gaetan Vestris (right) giving a dancing lesson to a gigantic goose with a human head and long pigtail queue. They face each other in profile. Vestris stands with his legs together, chest thrown out, his arms curved. "Regardez-moi" was his characteristic admonition. On a stool behind the goose is an open book inscribed "Electrical E. E. L."; on the ground at its feet is another inscribed "The Torpedo. Dedicated to Ld------C------. My Lord, I take the Liberty------ The greatness of whose Parts are known. . ." . This indicates that the goose is Lord Cholmondeley (1749-1827), "The Torpedo, a Poem to the Electrical Eel addressed to Mr John Hunter Surgeon" and "Dedicated to . . . Lord Cholmondeley," 4th ed. 1777, was a coarse and scurrilous poem, three lines of which are, "What tho' Lord Ch--lm--d--ly may conceal A most enormous length of Eel Admir'd for Size and bone:"In the wall which forms the background are two sash-windows and a door (left) round which a grinning youth, probably a servant, is looking. On the wall are half length portraits: three in ovals of elderly ladies in profile, one of a clergyman, full-face, wearing a biretta, his left hand on a book. There is also a picture of Fox, with a fox's head, seated opposite Cholmondeley; they are throwing dice. Fox appears satisfied, the other clenches his fist and exclaims in anger. A devil is climbing on the top of the frame and holds out a claw to grab the head of Fox. On the picture are the words "A Nick by God". Like Fox, see BMSat 5972, Cholmondeley held a faro bank at Brooks's. G.E.C., 'Complete Peerage'."-- British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from text at bottom of image., Printmaker and date of publication from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., 1 print : etching with aquatint on laid paper ; sheet 26.7 x 36.6 cm., and Mounted on leaf 12 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
England
Subject (Name):
Vestris, Gaëtan, 1729-1808, Cholmondeley, George James Cholmondeley, Marquess of, 1749-1827, and Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806
"A satire on the Scots; an imitation but not a copy of the satire with the same title, BMSat 2678, c. 1745, repeated in 1762, see BMSat 3988, which according to Angelo was by George Bickham. A Scot in Highland dress and wearing a feathered cap is seated in a latrine, his legs thrust down two holes in the board. He grasps in his left hand a rolled document inscribed "Act for [esta]blishing Popery". Behind him a stone wall is indicated on which is etched (left) a thistle growing out of a reversed crown, inscribed "Nemo me impune lacessit". On the right. and over Sawney's head is engraved: "'Tis a bra' bonny seat, o' my saul, Sawney cries, I never beheld sic before with me Eyes, Such a place in aw' Scotland I never could meet, For the High and the Low ease themselves in the Street.""--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Gillray. See British Museum online catalogue., and Mounted on leaf 2 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
Publish'd 4th June 1779 by Mrs. Holt, No. 111 Oxford Street, London
Subject (Topic):
Ethnic stereotypes, Caricatures, Privies, and Urination
"Alderman Boydell stands within a magic circle, directing a sacrifice of Shakespeare's plays; these are burning at his feet; the dense smoke which rises from the fire obscures a monument to Shakespeare, concealing the head and shoulders of a figure of Shakespeare in bas-relief pointing to the inscription on the monument (as in Kent's monument in Westminster Abbey)" ... Beside the fire (right) stands on end a huge volume inscribed 'List of Subscribers to the Sacrifice'. On it sits an aged gnome-like creature with a large head, symbolizing Avarice; under each skinny arm he clutches a large money-bag inscribed '£'. On his shoulders stands an infant blowing from a tobacco-pipe the bubble of 'Immortality'; he wears a head-dress of peacock's feathers, symbolizing Vanity. Boydell, who wears a furred alderman's robe, looks fixedly at Avarice, who returns his cunning smile; with his left hand he points to the fire. He is less caricatured than savagely depicted, the realism of his figure contrasting with the fantasy of the design. An evil-looking creature wearing a fool's cap crouches by the fire (right) blowing it with bellows. He is a caricature of the fool in West's picture of Lear (iii. 2). The smoke as it rises expands into heavy clouds which support various figures, more or less travestied, from the pictures commissioned by Boydell for his Shakespeare Gallery. ... In the upper part of the design is an infant at a woman's breast attended by two other figures. This does not appear to be from the Shakespeare Gallery. ... On the ground and just within the magic circle kneels a ragged boy with palette and brushes who is pushing another boy, holding an engraver's tool, outside the circle, which is inscribed in large letters: 'ΟΥΔΕΙΣ ΑΜΟΥΣΟΣ ΕΙΣΙΤΩ' ... Behind the boys and in the background is the temple of Fame on a mountain-top. Fame, poised on the apex of the temple, blows upwards from her trumpet a blast of bubbles ...--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Offering to avarice
Description:
Title etched below image., Advertisement etched below title: Soon as possible will be publishd., price one guinea, N. 1 of Shakespeare Illustrated, with the text, annotations, &c. complete; the engravings to be carried on in imitation of the aldermans liberal plan, further particulars will shortly be given in all the public papers., "Price 5 sh.", Sheet trimmed within plate mark., 1 print : etching & aquatint on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 50.2 x 38.5 cm, on sheet 53.1 x 39.6 cm., and Mounted on leaf 61 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. June 20th, 1789, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
"Portrait (whole-length) of a man standing in profile to the right holding a violin in his right hand, a bow in his left."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
First catgut scraper
Description:
Title etched below image., Possibly etched by Gillray. See British Museum catalogue., First letters of imprint statement are lightly printed and illegible, possibly due to an imperfection in the plate. The letter 'S' in 'Street' in publisher's address is etched in reverse., 1 print : etching on wove paper ; plate mark 15.0 x 9.4 cm, on sheet 23.3 x 17.5 cm., First word of imprint statement ('Pubd.'), which is lightly printed on other impressions, is completely absent here; this is possibly due to wear or burnishing of the plate., and Mounted on leaf 10 of volume 7 of 12.
Publisher:
[Pu]bd. Nov. 27, 81, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 New Bond Street
