Twenty-four letterpress and engraved lottery puffs uncut on one sheet. Each puff includes engravings of Twelfth night character by George Cruikshank and an 8-line poem.
Drawer 819.12.00.02
Acquired March 2024
“A grossly obese John Bull and his lean and ugly wife, both wearing hats, sit on upright chairs, gormandizing. The man holds a whole chicken to his mouth, taking a huge bite. The woman (left) faces him, biting a large melon which she holds with both hands to an enormous mouth. He is morosely savage, she is melancholy; both are gap-toothed. On the ground (right) by the man’s chair are collected a ham or gigot, a large irregular (?) galantine, a raised pie: ‘pâté de périgueux’, a huge jar of ‘vin de lafitte’ round which four bottles are grouped: ‘frontignac’, ‘Clos de Vouge[ot]’, and ‘. . . seac’. Beside the woman are a basket and tray filled with grapes, peaches, and pears. Through a wide doorway (left) the street is seen with a seated fruit-seller who serves three grotesquely hideous Englishwomen. Two are lank and emaciated, one tries to stuff a big peach into an immense mouth, holding an armful of grapes and peaches; the other gnaws at a bunch of grapes held in both hands. The third, also with bulging cheeks, bites a peach. The fruit-seller’s tray is empty; she holds out her last peach. All the women wear small absurd hats or caps, tight long-waisted bodices (coloured) with long white skirts (cf. No. 12359).”–British Museum online catalogue.
814.11.00.01
Acquired April 2024
A sheet with 25 vignettes in roughly five rows, each with a humorous or satirical scene or a visual pun and each captioned with names of trades, industry, or arts. At the center of the page is a caricature of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham in his long, curl wig and a collar, holding a broom in his left hand, with the caption “The Title page and Index” below. One of many such frontispieces of the period mocking the political and educational movements bringing information and knowledge to the working classes.
833.00.00.18
Acquired December 2023
Three, carefully hand-drawn transformation cards. The Ace is a scene of calvarymen, one of whom holds a flag, turned to form a diamond shape that has been highlighted in red. The two of diamonds is a scene in a gothic nook of a cardinal reclining, his hands clasped and his feet crossed; his hat is one diamond and the second his pillow, both highlighted in red. The three of diamonds is an image of three men, shown half-length, all with beards and one with spectacles.
Drawings Un58 no. 100
Acquired March 2024
A large crowd of theatregoers file out of a theater and onto the street in a pouring rainfall and high winds that turns umbrellas inside out. One man has fallen and broken his lantern as a woman falls back over him as her shoes are being changed. The audience is a mix of classes, couples, old women, young boys, some carrying lanterns, one with a cane.
Drawer Drawings B995 no. 2
Acquired April 2024
763 783 R497
Acquired April 2024
“John Bull, a sturdy citizen, displays to the Tsar who is a crowned bear on its hind-legs (left), an enormous open book: ‘John Bulls Journal’. This rests on the ground, and reaches to John’s chest; he points to the right.-hand page: ‘The Great the Magnanimous Catherine of Russia seized upon One third of the Kingdom of Poland and Kept it to herself – These Peaceful Danes Seiz’d on the City of Hamburgh.’ He says: “So you say Master Bruin, that my visit to Denmark has no parallel in History- do be so good as to turn your spectacles to this page and refresh Your Memory.” The bear peers gloomily through huge spectacles at the page. Round his neck is a collar: ‘This Bear belongs to Napoleo[n]’.”–British Museum online catalogue.
807.12.20.01+
Acquired February 2024
A caricature of George IV fishing on Virginia Water, using his scepter as a rod, watched by a kingfisher and a wagtail. On the end of his line is a frog, which is being netted by Lady Conyngham, his mistress.
836.07.13.01+
Acquired September 2023
Wellington (as Constable of the Tower of London) holds a pistol to the head of John Bull, as Henry Goulburn (Chancellor of the Exchequer) harangues Bull from the other side, forcing John to reach into his pockets to pay for the rebuilding of the Tower of London, seen burning in the background.
841.10.30.01++
Acquired February 2024
Interior view of an English tavern, with two men dining at a table in the left foreground (their dogs beside them looking up at the food) and another man reading a newspaper at a table to the right. A fourth man stands in the right background, his back to the viewer, looking out a window. A waiter carries a plate of food from the left.
806.00.00.55
Acquired April 2024