Letters relaying observations of Jamaica to Lord Cornbury

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Two letters signed pseudonymously ‘Salamander’ and ‘Montezuma’. The first, addressed to the Right Honourable Lord Cornbury, was sent with the second, a duplicate of a ‘love’ letter sent to Catherine Douglas, the Duchess of Queensberry.

  • Title: Letters relaying observations of Jamaica to Lord Cornbury and the Duchess of Queensbury, 1738 : manuscript.
  • Production: Jamaica, 1738.

Catalog Record 

LWL Mss File 150

Acquired November 2018

The representation of Thomas Topham the strong man

The representation of Thomas Topham the strong man. Detailed description below

“Portrait of Thomas Topham, taken on 28 May 1741; full length, standing slightly to right on high scaffold, preparing to lift three hogsheads full of water in Bath Street, London, in honour of Admiral Vernon’s attack to capture Cartagena; after a drawing by Leigh.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Toms, W. H. (William Henry), approximately 1700-1765, printmaker.
  • Title: The representation of Thomas Topham the strong man [graphic] : who lifted three hogsheads of water, weighing 1836 £, the 28th of May 1741, in honour to Admiral Vernon : before thousands of people, in Bath-Street, Cold-Bath-Fields / C. Leigh delin. 1741.
  • Publication: [London] : Publish’d according to act of Parliament, June 29, 1741, and sold by W.H. Toms, engraver, in Union Court, Holbourn, [29 June 1741]

Catalog Record 

741.06.29.01+

Acquired November 2018

Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors

Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors. Detailed description below.

A caricature of the new Lord Mayor of London: Harvey Combe stands centered in a hall, surrounded by a desperate looking group of people both rich and poor, who kneel and beg. A skeletal man (butcher?) holds a knife in one hand and a scroll in the other inscribed with a large order for meat: “12 haundres venison, 6 necks do., 8 turtles, 20 brace partridges, 20 pheasants, 20 brace woodcocks, 16 sirloins beef”. In the foreground lies another sheet which reads “Tripe Soup. Liver & Crow. Fried Tripe. Bill of Fare for 8 Novr.” The outgoing Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Glyn, who was notoriously spendthrift during his period in office, is seen being kicked out of the Mansion House holding large money bag. The two cats on the left and the dog following the butcher are also thin from malnutrition. Two large spiders have spun large webs below the archway on the left below are two cupids holding a heart molded above the archway.

  • Title: Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors, or, New tenants at a mansion house [graphic].
  • Distribution: [London] : Sold by all the printsellers in London, Novr. 9, 1799.

Catalog Record

799.11.09.02++

Acquired November 2018

Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors

Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors. Detailed description below.

A caricature of the new Lord Mayor of London: Harvey Combe stands centerd in the a hall, surrounded by a desperate looking group of people both rich and poor, who kneel and beg. A skeletal man (buthcher?) holds a knife in one hand and a scroll in the other enscribed with a large order for meat: “12 haundres vension, 6 necks do., 8 turtles, 20 brace partridges, 20 pheasants, 20 brace woodcocks, 16 sirloins beef bacon(?) &””. In the foreground lies another sheet which readss “Tripe Soup. Liver & Crow. Fried Tripe. Bill of Fare for 8 Novr.” The outgoing Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Glyn, who was notoriously spendthrift during his period in office, is seen being kicked out of the Mansion House holding large money bag with the word “Saving” written on it. The two cats on the left and the dog following the butcher are also thin from malnorishment. Two large spiders have spun large webs below the archway on the left below a two cupids holding a heart molded above the archway.

  • Artist: Nixon, John, -1818, artist.
  • Title: Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors, or, New tenants at a mansion house [art original] / J.N. 1799.
  • Production: [England], [1799]

Catalog Record

Drawings N736 no. 8 Box D305

Acquired November 2018

A merry tale of the jealous weaver

A merry tale of the jealous weaver. Detailed description below

A satirical broadside, with two vignettes of the “Weaver”. On the left the weaver is at his loom his back to his wife who is seated at the hearth warming her hands over the fire. On the right he is shown in the disguise of a Friar receiving his wife for confession as she kneels before him. Two columns of verse below: “A weaver jealous of his wife like many, Still dream’t of horns before the Knave had any … Twas you were the young man the old man & [the] Fryer. Finis.”

  • Title: A merry tale of the jealous weaver [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Printed and sold by Samuel Lyne, map and printseller at the Globe in Newgate Street, [between 1741? and 1748]

Catalog Record

741.00.00.19

Acquired November 2018

 

Partners in travelling at short notice

Partners in travelling at short notice. Detailed description below

A broadside advertising a coach service from No. 2 Bridge Street off Ludgate Hill to persons who wish to travel fast in a post-chaise and who need a partner in order to hire the carriage. No name or business is specified, the author of this lengthy advertisement explains that such a utilitarian service needs no introduction.

  • Title: Partners in travelling at short notice.
  • Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], [1770s]

Catalog Record

File 646 806 P273+

Acquired November 2018

A perspective view and section of an engine propos’d to be built

A perspective view and section of an engine propos'd to be built . Detailed description below

“This engraving represents a circular building, with conical roof of tiles, shown in two sections, and partly in perspective. Within the building is a large wheel turned by a horse and giving motion to a considerable number of spindles, to which are attached disks; on each of the disks are several razors, which are thus set in action on the faces of the men who apply their cheeks to openings in the inner wall of the building. Exterior to this inner wall is a gallery where stand the men who are thus expeditiously shaved; their hats hang on pegs, each over the hole to which the owner has applied himself. In the gallery several men are finishing or preparing for their toilettes. The operation of dressing a wig is shown below the wheel, on our right, where many combs are placed on a drum which revolves like a water-wheel before a man’s wig, placed on a block near it.”–British Museum catalogue, description of an earlier state.

  • Printmaker: Booth, Thomas, active 1743-1746, printmaker.
  • Title: A perspective view and section of an engine propos’d to be built by subscription, which will shave sixty men in a minute, also oyl comb and powder their wigs [graphic] / Booth sculp.
  • Publication: [London] : Publish’d according to act of Parliament Novr. [the] 2, 1749, and sold by J. Dubois at [the] Golden Head [the] corner of Burleigh Street near Exeter Chanc[…], [2 November 1749]

Catalog Record 

749.11.29.01+

Acquired November 2018

[John Bull roasted]

[John Bull roasted]. Detailed description below.

A preparatory sketch for an unpublished caricature illustrating a scene in a large Georgian kitchen. In front of the open hearth a bull is roasting on a spit as a large-bottomed man (Grenville) sits beside it basting the meat. The dish beneath it is inscribed ‘Broad bottom dripping pan’. Other dishes around the room are labeled as are the pools of fat in the dripping pan; some legible notes include plum pudding and mock turtle.

  • Artist: Gillray, James, 1756-1815, artist.
  • Title: [John Bull roasted] [art original] / J. Gillray.
  • Production: [England], [ca. 1805]

Catalog Record

Drawings G41 no. 8 Box D300

Acquired November 2018

The true effigies of a city sword bearer

The true effigies of a city sword bearer. Detailed description below.

Satirical portrait of William Pickett, Lord Mayor of London for 1789; three-quarter length, seated; wearing the ceremonial gown and with a City of London sword hanging in the background; within a border composed of plates, cups, saucers, mugs, kettles, and a chamber pot, with two bears in the corners; a fire extinguisher and a string of “India crackers” hang below the border.

  • Title: The true effigies of a city sword bearer [graphic] / W. fecit.
  • Publication: [London] : Publishd. according to act of Parliament, June 1st, 1789, by E. Harding, [1 June 1789]

Catalog Record 

789.06.01.02

Acquired November 2018

William Whitehead poem to the Duchess of Queensbury, 1777

manuscript letter

The manuscript poem is accompanied by a note written in the same hand, and in the third person, from Whitehead to Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon, the Duchess of Queensberry’s brother-in-law.

  • Author: Whitehead, William, 1715-1785.
  • Title: William Whitehead poem to the Duchess of Queensbury, 1777.

Catalog Record 

LWL Mss File 144

Acquired November 2018