With an engraved vignette, presumably depicting a Magdalen sister, at top. nvitation to dine with the governors of the Whitechapel Magdalen Hospital at Merchant Taylors’ Hall, following a sermon in the chapel of the hospital.
File 66 775 L984+
Acquired December 2023
An illustrated advertising handbill for Thomas Haines’s fly waggons and fly vans, running from the Blossoms Inn in the City of London to the Royal Hotel Yard, Cheltenham. Illustrated with a vignette at head of a covered fly waggon driven by two men; and a vignette at foot of a fly van with driver at front and armed coachman at rear.
File 66 824 T457+
Acquired August 2023
A classical ruined building with Doric columns, similar to the Temple of Poseidon at Paestum, is depicted; Brown’s credentials are inscribed on a chunk of masonry in the foreground.
File 66 825 R662
Acquired October 2023
Portrait of d’Eon, nearly half-length, in profile to the left; wearing the full military garb of a Captain of the Dragoons, including epaulets and medals; in an oval.
Portraits D418 no. 1
Acquired February 2024
A military-drill aid, dissected into twelve panels, providing a step-by-step pictorial guide to basic infantry exercises ‘as practised by His Majesty’s Army’. The whole consists of two separate evolutions: ‘Manual Exercise’ in eight steps, which involves the fixing and use of bayonets but with no firing or reloading; and ‘Platoon Exercise’ in ten steps, including the firing of muskets and subsequent reloading. Each dissected panel features two steps, with the three remaining panels containing the ‘Position of an Officer’ and ‘3 Ranks. Make Ready’, the decorated title vignette, and ”3 Ranks. Present – Fire’ alongside a detailed schematic of a musket, in both assembled and disassembled forms. Engraved after the work of English artist and printmaker Robert Dighton, this guide was issued at the beginning of the most acute stage of the first Napoleonic invasion scare and sold folded in a slipcase.
795.01.02.01+
Acquired July 2023
“Portrait of Queen Caroline wearing hat; profile, head and shoulders to left; with border of acorns and oak leaves and other tree branch leaves.”–British Museum online catalogue.
Portraits C292 no. 3++
Acquired July 2023
This set of prints were advertised in the December 1817 newspaper as “A series of Engravings in Seven Parts, representing the sufferings of a Swiss Shepherd during the revolution of that country, and intended as illustrations of the Lord’s Prayer. Printed on Royal Quarto, price 10s. 6d”. In Ackermann’s own The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions (Vol. IV, December 1st, 1817), they are listed in the catalogue under “Intelligence, Literary, Scientific” prints and are described as “Engravings of an historical fact of a Swiss Shepherd during the revolution of that country…”
818.01.01.05
Acquired July 2023
A political satire of Admiral Augustus Keppel (1725-1786), navy officer and politician, and his unfortunate campaign for the seat of Surrey in 1780. The broadside is augmented by the engraved illustration featuring Keppel, his ship HMS Formidable ablaze, and fourteen other figures, all in service of “Merit protected. Persecution repelled. Undue Influence defeated.” The lengthy satirical poem was prompted by the 1780 election for the commons in Surrey. It references his previous courts-martial for his conduct during the Battle of Ushant, and comments on the state of the nation, war, and the economy.
780.11.00.03+
Acquired July 2023
Printed on silk, within decorative borders. Engraved portrait of “Caroline Queen of England” beneath title.
Broadside addressed from the Brass Founders and Braziers in support of Queen Caroline in October 1820, a month before the withdrawal of the Pains and Penalties Bill which aimed to annul Caroline’s marriage to George IV. Beneath the address is a response from Queen Caroline together with an ‘Order of the Procession’ in support of the queen.
File 53 C292 820Ad++
Acquired July 2023
A broadside illustrated with engraved head-and-shoulders portraits of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold at top of sheet followed by 29 lines of letterpress text mourning the death of the Charlotte on November 6th, 1817.
File 56 C47 817B
Acquired July 2023