“Illustration to a broadside, printed in four columns in the manner of a newspaper, and covering the upper part of the third and fourth columns. A whole-length portrait of Mrs. Clarke (unrecognizable, but alluring), standing with one hand on the head of a sofa. In the background are four oval bust portraits of other women: ‘Miss Taylor’ [see British Museum Satires No. 11229], ‘Mrs Carey’ [see British Museum Satires No. 11050], ‘Miss Gifford’, and ‘Mrs Shaw’. … The text, in eight chapters, is in the quasi-biblical language not uncommon in satires, e.g., British Museum Satires No. 6465, and afterwards exploited by Hone. The text is an account of the relations between the Duke of York and Mrs. Clarke, and the Parliamentary proceedings, highly flattering to Wardle and Burdett. It ends: ‘And behold he [the Duke] walketh in a vain shew, which shall fade in the sight of the people, whilst the fame of Wardle, Whitbread, and Burdett shall flourish and endure . . . the tergiversation of the Black Coats may whiten his honour [see British Museum Satires No. 11269], but who can believe him innocent of folly, vice, and acknowledged adultery? … Now the rest of the Acts of Mary Ann Clarke, … are they not written in the Chronicles of Blue Covers which flutter on the Stalls.'”–British Museum online catalogue.

• Title: First book of the Chronicle of the Isles [graphic] : containing a curious display of female ambition, assurance, success, and disappointment. Exhibited before the Grand Council of the Isles of Britain, in the first and second month, of the forty eighth year of the King, by Mary Anne Clarke.
  
• Publication: [London] : Printed by and for J. Herbert, at his Newspaper Office, 4, Merlin’s Place, Spa Fields, [March or April 1809]
  
• Distribution: [London] : Sold by W. Wilson, 4, Little Warner Street

Catalog Record

809.03.00.10++

Acquired March 2024