Iohn Bull peeping into futurity

Iohn Bull peeping into futurity

John Bull kneels beside a young gentlemen in a red cloak holding a magnifying glass and a stick, looking towards a cloud within which the future is foretold. It depicts John Bull in seven different scenarios: drinking unadulterated porter, free from taxes, smoking Trinidad tobacco, talking French & grown quite a fine gentleman, eating cinnamon from Ceylon, free from care, and with bread at 6d the quarter loaf. John Bull says: ‘what be all those people I see. Mercy on us so many good things will be more than I can bear’. His companion replies: ‘Look through this glass Mr. Bull & behold your future prosperity, it magnifies but very little I assure you’.

  • PrintmakerRoberts, Piercy, active 1791-1805, printmaker.
  • TitleIohn Bull peeping into futurity [graphic] / Woodward delin. ; etch’d by Roberts.
  • PublicationLondon : Pubd. by P. Roberts, 28 Middle Row, Holborn, [between 1801 and 1803?]

Catalog Record

801.00.00.23

Acquired May 2018

Hudibras vanquish’d by Trulla

Hudibras vanquish'd by Trulla

“Hudibras is sprawled on the ground with Trulla, a large country-woman, astride him fending off angry villagers, including a cobbler and a butcher, wielding clubs; to left, Ralpho is held by a man with a rope and another with a sword”– British Museun online catalogue.

  • PrintmakerHogarth, William, 1697-1764, printmaker.
  • TitleHudibras vanquish’d by Trulla [graphic] / W. Hogarth invt. et sculp.
  • Edition[State 4].
  • PublicationLondon : Printed and sold by Robert Sayer, opposite Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, [1726]

Catalog Record

Hogarth 768.00.00.02 Box 112

Acquired June 2018

All a growing, a growing, heres flowers for your gardens

“A handsome young man sells pot-plants to a pretty young woman who stands on a door-step (left); a little girl beside her points eagerly to the flowers. He has a two-wheeled cart drawn by an ass; in it are small shrubs in large pots; two pots of flowering plants are on the ground. The background is formed by part of a palatial house having a portico raised on an arcade.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • PrintmakerMerke, Henri, printmaker.
  • TitleAll a growing, a growing, heres flowers for your gardens [graphic] / Rowlandson delin. ; Merke sculp.
  • PublicationLondon : Pub. Mar. 1, 1799, at R. Ackermann’s, 101 Strand, [1 March 1799]

Catalog Record 

799.03.01.07

Acquired May 2018

The hopes of the nation

“A satirical emblematic design; at centre, ‘The Rock of the True Old English Constitution’, on which sits a small figure of John Bull on a chair, holding a tankard and a pipe, saying, ‘Wellhere I am I John Bull – thrown rather in the back ground this is the blessed effect of parties their pockets are full, and mine are empty. – however – Grievings a Folly so let us be be [sic] jolly – My Service to you.’ To left stands a large grinning figure, ‘Opposition Man’, his hands in his pockets, with papers lettered ‘Jobbing’, ‘Corruption’, and with sums of money; at right stands a similar figure, ‘Ministerial Man’, also grinning and with hands in his pockets, one of which is lettered ‘The Cash The Cash’. With feet on the shoulders of the latter and above Bull is a spreadeagled, large grinning figure, saying ‘No Party Man’, whose pocket is inscribed ‘a little more money if you please’; on his head is balanced a cushion-like object lettered ‘Promises’, which supports the banner, ‘Reform’; on top of this is a similing head wearing a ruff, fool’s cap and ass’s ears.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, printmaker.
  • TitleThe hopes of the nation, or, New armorial bearings for John Bull [graphic].
  • Publication[London] : Pubd. May 25th, 1809, by Thos. Tegg, No. 111 Cheapside, [25 May 1809]

Catalog Record 

809.05.25.01+

Acquired November 2017

Fashionable ties, or, Modern neckcloths

Fashionable ties, or, Modern neckcloths

A macabre caricature divided into two compartments, The Dandy and The Dangle. On the left, a strutting dandy ties his neckcloth in front of a mirror saying: ‘I declare these large Neckcloths are monstrously handy, They [serve] for a shirt too and make one a Dandy.’ The right hand image is of a dandy, head covered in a cloth, dangling from a wooden beam with a tie around his neck. Behind him is a town square and in the foreground, a crowd looks on. The image is accompanied by the text: ‘When a man comes to this there’s little to hope, His neat Dandy Neckcloth is changed for a Rope’.

  • TitleFashionable ties, or, Modern neckcloths [graphic].
  • Publication[London?] : [publisher not identified], [ca. 1810]

Catalog Record 

810.00.00.83+

Acquired November 2017

The restive Pegasus…

“A man in ragged but quasi-fashionable dress rides (right to left) an ass through a river which flows past a steep mountain. The animal jibs, with ears set back; the rider raises a whip in each hand. He wears, and uses, three pairs of spurs, and attached to his shoulders and to the ass is a monstrous pile of bladders inscribed respectively ‘Repartee’, ‘Nonsensical Verses’, ‘Catastrophe’, ‘Sentiment’, ‘Blasphemies’, ‘Puns’, ‘Duels’, ‘Double Entendres’, ‘Metaphors’, ‘Ghosts’, ‘Melting Speeches’, ‘Squibs’, ‘Dialogue’, ‘Daggers Poisons’.”–British Museum online catalogue, description of a later state.

  • Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: The restive Pegasus, or, The dramatic author foiled in his attempt to ascend Parnassus [graphic] / Giles Grinagain in. et f.
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. July 25, 1802, by S. Howitt, Panton Street, [25 July 1802]

Catalog Record 

802.07.25.01

Acquired November 2017

A toad in a hole

“A fat, ugly woman, seated full face on a commode, in the form of a chair.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles
  • Title: A toad in a hole [graphic] / Giles Grinagain invt. et fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly, Jany. 2d, 1804.

Catalog Record

804.01.02.15

Acquired November 2017

Hudibras’s first adventure

Hudibras's first adventure

Hudibras and Ralpho encounter a mob armed with sticks; in the foreground to right, a one-legged fiddler, a butcher and a dancing bear with his leader. On the left, a woman reaches out her arms.

  • PrintmakerHogarth, William, 1697-1764, printmaker.
  • TitleHudibras’s first adventure [graphic] / W. Hogarth delin. et sculp.
  • Edition[State 3].
  • Publication[London] : Sold by Phil. Overton near St. Dunstans Church Fleetstreet, [1726]

Catalog Record 

Hogarth 726.00.00.26 Box 100

Acquired June 2018

How to obtain a request

A social satire: a beggar wearing ragged clothes and leaning on a crutch hold his hat out towards a old, well-dressed woman as he says, “My angelic young lady! Heaven preserve your ladyship’s beautiful shape and countenance these thousand years! Give a halfpenny to a poor old man.” Her face is caricatured, with a large pig-like nose from which long hairs protrude and with growths on her face, but she carries a parasol and is fashionably dressed and wears a feather and flower in her hair and earrings and large beaded necklace.

  • Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: How to obtain a request [graphic] / Giles Grinagain invt. et fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Published Febry. 1st, 1802, by S. Howitt, Panton Str., Haymarket, [1 February 1802]

Catalog Record 

802.02.01.07

Acquired November 2017

Stinking lobsters

A social satire: a woman in a apron and with a kerchief on her head is seated at a low table with a basket of lobsters; she holds out one lobster that is pulling a man’s nose, as she says “There d-n your Eyes, who stinks now?” He winces in pain and pushes back against her arm as he replies, “Begar he bite! Oh!!!”

  • Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: Stinking lobsters [graphic] / Giles Grinagain in. et fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Published Decbr. 1, 1801, by S. Howitt, Panton Street, [1 December 1801]

Catalog Record 

801.12.01.10

Acquired November 2017