“Hudibras and Ralpho are in the stocks, the knight’s boots, sword and pistols taking the place of the fiddle; a sympathetic widow, accompanied by her maid, addresses Hudibras while villagers gather round to mock, and a small boy urinates on Ralpho’s foot”–British Museum online catalogue.
Folio 75 H67 768B
Acquired January 2021
A copy of the Hogarth’s Frontispiece and its explanation for Samuel Butler’s poem Hudibras with the title engraved above the image and the text below in a single sentence below. Plate one is an emblematic scene with an oval portrait of Samuel Butler mounted on a pedestal on which is carved a relief showing a satyr whipping figures of Rebellion, Hypocrisy and Ignorance dressed as puritans, while he drives a chariot drawn by Hudibras and Ralpho; in the foreground, on the left, a satyr holds up a volume of Butler’s poem as a guide for the carver (a boy dressed only in an apron), and on the right a young satyr holds up a mirror to a figure of Britannia.
Folio 75 H67 768B
Acquired January 2021
A collection of 24 proof sheets, mostly eight images per sheet, surrounded by typographic border. The images range from individual animals, such as sloth, sheep dog, ass, lion and tiger, to small country scenes by Bewick or in his style, to battledowrs and chapbook illustrations from Robin Hood to Blue Beard. Also included are satirical prints such as Bewick’s ‘Clown’s Visit to the Moon’, or Davison’s publication on local history.
75 D285 820
Acquired July 2020
A scene in a fashionable library with ladies and gentlemen conversing with attendants at the counters on either side. On the left a woman looks in a book while her male companion converses with a clergyman, as the woman behind the counter consults a book. On the right, a man sits in a chair as a lady discusses her choices with the man behind the counter who reaches for a book below a sign ‘Stamp’. Behind him is another sign “Just published […]” An older woman with a walking stick approaches the counter on the right, followed by a Black servant and a dog. The windows are filled with books and prints. Through the open door a woman with an umbrella is silhouetted; to the left another sign “History Westminster and its monuments.”
813.00.00.24
Acquired November 2020
Extra-illustrated with 116 additional prints and autograph material: 82 etchings, caricatures, engraved plates, illustrated title pages, and broadsides by George Cruikshank, of which 24 are hand-colored, mounted and captioned in pencil having been trimmed to the image with loss of imprints
75 C889 S879
Acquired March 2020
63 806 Sm642
Acquired January 2020
General history of the formation and establishment of the volunteer and associated corps
63 799 B862
Acquired January 2020
Fashionably dressed ladies and gentlemen stand or sit in small groups conversing the elegant saloon at the Marine Pavilion designed by Henry Holland.
790.06.01.04+
Acquired December 2019
A crowd, gathered in the courtyard under the sign of The George Inn on the route to Brighton, examine a horse seemingly under auction; a man in the doorway holds up a hammer. People look out at the scene from the windows of the inn. Two men converse with a woman to the left as her dog looks at the scene; a traveler with a pack and walking stick sits on a stoop to adjust his shoe.
790.06.01.03+
Acquired December 2019
A coach pulling up to the Post Station, the Cock Inn at left, on route to Brighton. The coach is pulling into the court yard, about to pass under a wooden gate bearing the inn’s sign, while another coach stands at the inn door. People look down from the second story windows. A man waits at the mile marker in front of another building at right. In the foreground to left, a man with a wooden leg carries a small child on his back as he leads a donkey that carries a woman and two children, one of whom appears to be nursing, the other in a basket that hangs over the donkey. Their dog follows behind.
790.06.01.02+
Acquired December 2019
