The country tooth drawer

“Popular print, satire … : The interior of a farrier’s smithy. A country woman sits on a low stool, while a farrier pulls at her tooth with a pair of pincers which he grasps in both hands. He presses one foot on her outstretched leg while a grinning assistant holds her head in both hands. A third man stands behind, also grinning and holding a stick above his head; one eye is bandaged. All three wear leather aprons. The wretched woman holds the tooth-drawer’s left sleeve with one hand, his nose with the other; her eyes are closed. A boy (left) flourishes a broom. Behind (right) is the lighted forge. An anvil, horseshoes, and farrier’s tools are in the foreground. A grinning face looks in through a wide-open window (left). Thatched buildings and trees are seen through the window.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Title: The country tooth drawer [graphic].
  • Publication: [Alnwick] : Printed and published by W. Davison, Alnwick, [between 1812 and 1817]

Catalog Record

812.00.00.101

Acquired September 2019

Hob and stage doctor

On a stage a man in a hat extracts a tooth from a patient as a clown taunts him; the audience on three sides of the stage look on with looks of horror or amusement.

  • Title: Hob and stage doctor [graphic].
  • Publication: [Alnwick] : Printed and published by W. Davison, Alnwick, [between 1812 and 1817]

Catalog Record 

812.00.00.102

Acquired September 2019

Stinking lobsters

A social satire: a woman in a apron and with a kerchief on her head is seated at a low table with a basket of lobsters; she holds out one lobster that is pulling a man’s nose, as she says “There d-n your Eyes, who stinks now?” He winces in pain and pushes back against her arm as he replies, “Begar he bite! Oh!!!”

  • Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: Stinking lobsters [graphic] / Giles Grinagain in. et fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Published Decbr. 1, 1801, by S. Howitt, Panton Street, [1 December 1801]

Catalog Record 

801.12.01.10

Acquired November 2017

The striking likeness

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

An artist (left) with a caricatured face looks on with horror as a bust falls on the head of the Lord, the sitter, who jumps and shrieks with pain, his foot breaking the window (right). In the background the Lord’s round, well-dressed wife looks on in horror. Sketch on verso in pencil shows a boxer with gloves in a fighting stance. The figures in ink on recto, the artist and his lordship, bleed-through the image on verso.

  • Creator:Grant, C. J. (Charles Jameson), active 1830-1852, artist.
  • Title:The striking likeness [drawing] / C.J. Grant.
  • Created:[London, between 1830 and 1852?]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

Drawings G761 no. 1 Box123

Acquired November 2013