Peter Griffin, map & print-seller

description below

“Trade card of Peter Griffin, printseller, at Dial and Three Crowns, Next the Globe Tavern, Fleet Street, from the late Overtons; text on sheet at the centre with clock face and three crowns above; with various prints overlapping behind it, including maps, portraits, satires, and ornaments.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Le Clerc, active 1738-1775, printmaker.
  • Title: Peter Griffin, map & print-seller, at the Dial and Three Crowns, next the Globe Tavern, Fleet-Street; from the late Overtons [graphic] / le Clerc fec.
  • Publication: [London] : Sold by Peter Griffin, map & printseller at the Three Crowns & Dial, next the Globe Tavern, Fleet Street, 1747.

Catalog Record

File 66 747 G852

Acquired November 2021

A representation of the present state of France

description below

“Napoleon, pushing an officer before him through a pillared doorway, looks back to speak to a monk and a sansculotte, shackled together, who drag a car in which is an imperial crown. They hold a large scroll inscribed: ‘Most religious Sovereign – the benefactor of the church – the patron of liberty – the scourge of tyrants, and the defender of our most holy religion; may you long fill the Imperial Chair, and diffuse over a free and happy people all the blessings of your auspicious government.’ Demons fly round a tricolour flag which floats from the car. Napoleon holds out a scroll headed: ‘Address, &c. &c. &c. The Legions of France congratu – ‘, saying, “This token of your gratitude, my dear subjects will ever stimulate me to protect your liberties – to promote your happiness – and to preserve my empire from the ravages of war, tyranny and oppression.” The officer, with a cynical smile, says: “Patron of Liberty – Defender of our most holy Religion – free and happy People – Ha! ha! ha! – What may we not expect? – Has he not got them under excellent subjection?” On the left is Napoleon’s ‘Secret Chamber’: a table is covered with maps and plans; a large map, partly unrolled, shows Europe from ‘[En]gland to [Tur]key’, including the ‘Black Sea’; another map shows ‘Suez’ and the ‘Red Sea’. A demon under the table holds up a large pile of papers: ‘Plans against England’; on the floor are similar piles: ‘Religion’ and ‘Treaties’. There are also ‘Plans against Germany and Turkey’, and a paper: ‘Mem. the chance of the conquest of England is worth the sacrifice of one third of the people of France. Item. As Charlemaine not only conquered Italy, but the whole of Germany, and left the Imperial dignity hereditary in the Sovereigns of France, it is indispensably necessary to obtain possession of Germany, in order to support the dignity of the Gallic empire.’ On the wall are three pictures: ‘Sacking of Rome’, ‘Dissolution of the National Assembly’ [see British Museum Satires No. 9426, &c], and ‘View of Cairo’ [see British Museum Satires No. 9358, &c.]. Below the design: ‘Explanation. The two figures bringing the Imperial crown . . . represent . . . the bitter Enemies of Aristocracy, and the staunch Supporters of the late Monarchial Government, tackled to the National Machine, and reduced to the most abject State of Slavery by the Influence of the Military, whose congratulatory Address Bonaparte has received at the Hand of an Officer, and is introducing him into his Secret Chamber to receive Instructions. The Demons hovering over the Imperial Crown denote Five Years of Destruction; during which Period Bonaparte will overrun and ravage the greater Part of the Continent of Europe, be the Means of nearly depopulating Turkey, and finally be slain with the Sword, be cast out as an abominable Branch, and be left as Dung to rot on the Face of the Earth.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Title: A representation of the present state of France [graphic].
  • Publication:[London] : Published by L. Mayer, as the act directs, August 13, 1804.
  • Manufacture: [London] : Bryer, printer, Bridge Street, Blackfriars

Catalog Record

804.08.13.01+

Acquired May 2021

 

The new banking company’s scales of equity

description below

“A hand projects from the upper margin, holding the ornate beam of a pair of scales against the irradiated inscription Mene mene–Tekel, &c. [cf. British Museum Satires No. 10072, &c.]. One scale (left) is filled by a large melon from which a slice has been cut, and by a paper: One Million Sterling!! The scale is inscribed The times are Rank Hamlet. This slightly outweighs the other scale which is filled by a ducal coronet and papers: Lt R. N–; Duke E[ar]l Baron; Earl of–; Hery Grd Falconer; Chany; Nell Gwynn!; Hery Regr Chancery! The scale is inscribed A Pledge of Better Times.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Jones, Thomas Howell, active 1823-1848, printmaker.
  • Title: The new banking company’s scales of equity [graphic] / Aristocracy ivent. ; Democracy fect.
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by S.W. Fores, 41 Piccadilly, Novr. 1825.

Catalog Record

825.11.00.01+

Acquired November 2020

A comfortable thing to be king of Greece

description below

“Prince Leopold sits enthroned, flanked by his new subjects; he wears uniform with a crown, and sits on a two-tiered circular dais in a chair of state, the seat of which is covered with giant thorns. Punctured and frightened, he grasps the arms of his chair with crisped fingers; his toes are drawn back, touching the ground, and he looks towards a savage-looking Greek (right) who kneels before him with a long knife held behind his back. A similar ruffian kneels on the left; others approach menacingly from the left, one smoking a long pipe and grasping a knife. They wear Greek costume with embroidered jackets and full white breeches. On the right are long-robed ecclesiastics, headed by a bearded patriarch with a cross in one hand, a knife in the other.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  • Title: A comfortable thing to be king of Greece [graphic] / W. Heath.
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. March 6, 1830 by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket, [6 March 1830]

Catalog Record

830.03.06.01+

Acquired November 2020

Farmer George’s wonderful monkey

description below

“Social satire; Pitt the Younger portrayed as a monkey, with regalia and his crown hanging on a chain around his neck, in a field labelled “Windsor Park”; below the image a text explains that this animal is confounding naturalists, who suppose it to be an offspring of the devil.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: O’Keeffe, W., active 1794-1805, printmaker.
  • Title: Farmer George’s wonderful monkey [graphic] / WOK [monogram]
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. by J. Aitken, Castle Street, Leicester Fields, July 2nd, 1795.

Catalog Record

795.07.02.02+

Acquired November 2020

Tirania

description below

Ferdinand VII, seated on a throne on a low platform inscribed “TIRANIA”, is flanked by two advisers, the Devil on the left and a friar on the right. At the friar’s feet, in the foreground, a demon burns newspapers with a firebrand. Tortures of the Inquisition are seen in the background.

  • Title: Tirania [graphic].
  • Publication: [London?] : Washington, pubd. Novr. 1818.

Catalog Record

818.11.00.01+

Acquired March 2020

A coronation stool, of repentance

description below

“The Queen sits in profile to the right on a huge crown, her left foot on a footstool. She partly hides her face and an ambiguous grimace behind a fan inscribed C; in her right hand is a handkerchief. She is fat, very décolletée, and bejewelled, with monstrous ostrich feathers in her hair.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: A coronation stool, of repentance [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James St., July 19, 1821.

Catalog Record

821.07.19.07

Acquired March 2020

Here we go up up up and there he goes down down downe

description below

A satire of the 1832 Reform Bill, with a see-saw with the Crown as the fulcrum. At the center is William IV, waving the Union flag; to the right is Lord Grey, seated on the lever, helping William balance with a scroll marked ‘Union’, with John Bull standing underneath, wedging the lever up with the ‘Reform Bill’; and to the right the Duke of Wellington tumbles backwards as the lever breaks under the weight of him and two huge scrolls marked ‘Anti Reform’.

 

  • Title: Here we go up up up and there he goes down down downe [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by O. Hodgson, 10 Cloth Fair, [ca. 1831]

Catalog Record

831.00.00.50

Acquired November 2020

The blessed effects of a united cabinet

description below

“George IV, seated on the throne, watches a display of jovial fraternization between John Bull and Pat, who dance, holding hands, each holding up a hat decorated respectively by rose and shamrock. A lanky garland of (thornless) roses and giant shamrocks drapes the crown on the back of the throne; one end is held up by Wellington (right), on the King’s left, the other by Peel on his right, so that the King is framed by it. J. B. is an obese and drink-blotched “cit”, with a snuff-box inscribed ‘Irish’ in his waistcoat pocket. Pat is a ragged Irish peasant, his bare legs swathed by twisted straw; his shillelagh lies on the ground; he looks with a broad but appraising grin at J. B., who sings: “Together reared together grown, Oh! let us now unite in one, Let friendship rivet the decree, Nor bigots sever Pat and Me!!!” Two discomfited ‘bigots’ depart on the left; one is a gouty parson using a crutch, with a ‘Petition against Concession’ hanging from his pocket, cf. British Museum Satires No. 15661, &c. The other is a Catholic bishop in robe and mitre. They say: ‘It’s time for us to be off.’ Above their heads flies a figure of Discord, her hair consisting of snakes which spit flame towards J. B. The King, with extended arm, says: ‘No more let Bigotry distract the Nation, Nor Priestcraft nurture lawless passion, Henceforth let rage and tumult cease, As brothers live and die in peace!!!'”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Jones, Thomas Howell, active 1823-1848, printmaker.
  • Title: The blessed effects of a united cabinet, or, The glorious march of intellect [graphic] / T. Jones fect.
  • Publication: London : Pubd. April 1829 by S.W. Fores, 41 Piccadilly, [April 1829]

Catalog Record

829.04.00.17+

Acquired December 2020

Dido in despair

Dido in despair. Detailed description below

“A parody of British Museum Satires No. 9752, Gillray’s ‘Dido in Despair!’ The Queen takes the place of Lady Hamilton, in a similar pose but tearing her long black hair with more of rage and less of grief. She wears a bracelet on each arm, one inscribed ‘BB’ (for Bergami), the other ‘MW’ (for Wood). On the floor are gifts to the Queen. Her bare right foot rests on a large cake inscribed ‘MW’ on which are various emblems: a large crown, which she kicks over, busts of Wood, Bergami, Lieut. Hownam, and an unidentified person; also a goat, an ass, and a cat. This stands on a paper: ‘Mr Trifle’s Love to the Q[ueen]’. A huge round of beef is ticketed ‘With Mr Suets Love to the Q–n’; with this is a roll of ‘Cat’s Meat’. A model of a pair of stays enclosed in a glass case stands on two papers: ‘Glass-blower’s Delight’ and ‘O stay my love my Cary dear’. A pair of breeches of metal is ‘For Bat [Bergami] or Cat ad libitum from the Brazier[s]’. Caricatures lie near a pair of slippers inscribed ‘BB’; the uppermost is of Bergami drinking at a table between Wood and the Queen. A book is ‘Catalogue of Fancy Men’. The glass on the dressing-table is topped by a crescent; on it hang miniatures of Bergami and Wood (cf. No. 13858). The table is covered with decanters, one labelled ‘Brandy’ [see British Museum Satires No. 14175], glass, pill-box, and boxes of ‘Rouge’, ‘Brick dust’, and ‘Court Plaister’. The curtains of the bed are fringed with gold and hang from a pelmet. In place of Gillray’s open sash-window is a closed French window; outside is a landscape, with two asses, and a lake (Como) with a sailing-boat.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: Dido in despair [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., April 3rd, 1821.

Catalog Record 

821.04.03.01

Acquired March 2019