Mrs. Clarke’s patent extinguisher

description below

“Mrs. Clarke sits on Wardle’s right shoulder, to place over the head of the Duke of York a giant extinguisher which covers all but his legs and (military) coat-tails. At the apex of the extinguisher is a five-pointed star surrounded by the letters ‘T’ ‘R’ ‘U’ ‘T’ ‘H’. She says: “Beneath this Canopy’s oblivious shade Detected Y——hides his diminished head” On the cone are the inscriptions: ‘Multum in Papvo’ [sic] and: ‘Now Phoenix like, with renovated fire To noble deeds our Army shall aspire Whilst haughty Gaul shall emulate its praise And England round a Woman’s brow entwine the Bays.’ Wardle wears regimentals and sword and is tall and handsome; a letter ‘To Col Wardle’ projects from a pocket.”–British Museum online catalogue.

Catalog Record

809.03.00.09+

Acquired April 2023

A plan of discipline, composed for the use of the militia

printed text

This work became eventually an army text book

  • Author: Windham, William, 1717-1761.
  • Title: A plan of discipline, composed for the use of the militia of the county of Norfolk.
  • Published: London, Printed, for J. Shuckburgh, at the Sun, next Richard’s coffee-house, Fleetstreet, 1759.

Catalog Record

63 759 W72

Acquired May 2023

Does the harp of Rosa slumber

description below

An old woman in patched-up clothes with her harp huddles in a doorway. The satire contrasts the life of a street singer with the sweet lyrics of the popular ballad by Thomas Moore.

  • Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  • Title: Does the harp of Rosa slumber [graphic] / [man with an umbrella] Esqr.
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket, London, [approximately 1829]

Catalog Record

829.00.00.117+

Acquired April 2023

The marriage ceremony of the Prince and Princess of Wales

description below

“Interior, the Prince of Wales standing to left wearing chain and badge of the garter, right hand poised to put the ring on the finger of Princess Caroline Amelia, who kneels with hands crossed over her breast to right, a minister blessing them to right, an open book on a cushion in front of him, George III and Queen Charlotte seated in the background to left.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Title: The marriage ceremony of the Prince and Princess of Wales [graphic] : perform’d by the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the Chapel Royal, April 8th, 1795.
  • Edition: [State 2].
  • Publication: [London] : Publish’d May 16th, 1795, by John Fairburn, No. 146, Minories, London, [16 May 1795]

Catalog Record

795.05.16.01

Acquired November 2022

Memento. : Drunkenness expels reason, drowns the memory…

printed text

Engraved, with letterpress imprint and ornamental border and with a vignette above showing a street scene at night, with one man vomitting as he is supported by two companions. Across the street under a street light, a prostitute waves at the men.

 

  • Title: Memento. : Drunkenness expels reason, drowns the memory, distempers the body …
  • Publication: [Alnwick] : Davison, printer, Alnwick, [not after 1858]

Catalog Record

File 66 858 M533

Acquired November 2022

Napoleon after the Battle of Maloyaroslavets

description below

Satirical print showing Napoleon after the battle of Maloyaroslavets (24 October 1812) during his Russian campaign (‘The Patriotic War’ in Russian parlance). He is vomiting fragments of plans and charts as well as a shattered anchor. In his hand he holds a large medicine bottle of emetic labelled in Russian: ‘Emetic. Pour Mr Napoleon. Heartfelt thank you, if only to take it more often. By order of the Russian army, from the pharmacy near Maly Yaroslavets’.

Catalog Record

812.10.24.01

Acquired April 2023

The vanity of human life

printed text

Broadsheet: 3 large woodcut blocks illustrations and verses

 

  • Title: The vanity of human life. : Life and death contrasted, or, An essay on man. Messenger of mortality, or, Death and the lady.
  • Publication: [London] : Printed & sold by J. Catnach, No. 2, Monmouth-Court, 7 Dials, London, [1820s?]

Catalog Record

820.00.00.115+

Acquired November 2022

View of Piazza della Signoria in Florence

description below

A small audience sitting on benches on a tribune next to the equestrian statue of Cosimo I de’ Medici in Piazza della Signoria, watching a military parade of the guards of the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Lorena (1765-1790), son of the Empress Maria Theresa of Habsburg and brother of Joseph II. The soldiers, forming an L-shaped cordon and led by four battalion officers, are recognizable by their tricorns and the bayonets. At the center of the square, under the grand building of Palazzo Vecchio, stands a troop of drummers. Figures in the the foreground include a group of cavalrymen bearing a banner and followed by a cart on the right; a lady and gentleman waiting for a landau carriage at center; and a figure, maybe a soldier on look-out, watching the scene in Palazzo Uguccioni’s shadow on the left.

 

  • Creator: Patch, Thomas, 1725-1782, artist.
  • Title: [View of Piazza della Signoria in Florence with the Grand Duke’s military guard] [art original].
  • Production: [Florence], [not after 1782]

Catalog Record

Drawings P294 no. 1 Box D205

Acquired September 2022

The Female soldier, or, The surprising life and adventures of Hannah Snell

printed text

 

  • Title:The Female soldier, or, The surprising life and adventures of Hannah Snell Born in the City of Worcester, who took upon herself the name of James Gray; and, being deserted by her husband, put on mens apparel, and travelled to Coventry in quest of him, where she enlisted in Col. Guise’s Regiment of Foot, and marched with that Regiment to Carlisle, in the Time of the Rebellion in Scotland; shewing what happened to her in that City, and her Desertion from that Regiment. Also a full and true account of her enlisting afterwards into Fraser’s Regiment of Marines, then at Portsmouth; and her being draughted out of that Regiment, and sent on board the Swallow Sloop of War, one of Admiral Boscawen’s Squadron, then bound for the East-Indies. With the many Vicissitudes of Fortune she met with during that Expedition, particularly at the Siege of Pondicherry, where she received Twelve Wounds. Likewise, the surprising Accident by which she came to hear of the Death of her faithless Husband, whom she went in quest of. The Whole Containing The most surprising Incidents that have happened in any preceeding Age; wherein is laid open all her Adventures, in Mens Cloaths, for near five Years, without her Sex being ever discovered.
  • Published: London : Printed for and sold by R. Walker the Corner of Elliot’s-Court, in the Little Old-Bailey, 1750.

Catalog Record

53 Sn671 750

Acquired April 2023