64 B77 788
Acquired January 2022
A collection comprising eighteen broadsides that trace the initial proposal, founding and development of the Tottenham Park Association. Most of the notices offer rewards for the recovery of stolen property, such as livestock, a set of curtains, a gate and a fence, apprehending offenders and removing “gipsies or other vagrants from the parishes.” The other broadsides relate to the governance of the association.
64 M347 819
Acquired June 2020
“Peel kicks a lean old watchman behind, and drags from his shoulders his patched and tattered coat. Just behind him (right) is a big bonfire in which a watch-box and battered lanterns are blazing; beside it lie more lanterns, a rattle, and staves. In the background a watchman hangs by the neck from the branch of a tree, still holding rattle and lantern. Beside the tree is a pond from which projects an arm clutching a rattle. Peel says: ‘”But such a poor, bare-forked animal as thou art–Off–off you lendings: come unbutton here vide Shaks–‘ [“Lear”, III. iv]. The terrified watchman answers: ‘”Nay, take my life and all, pardon not that: You take my house, when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house; you take my life, When you do take the means whereby I live, vide Shaks.’ [“Merchant of Venice”, IV. i].”–British Museum online catalogue.
829.09.29.01+
Acquired October 2018
Four rows of designs with one to three designs in each, individually titled.
834.10.01.01+
Acquired November 2017
Satire on attempts to enforce Observance of the Sabbath. John Bull sits miserably in a corner of a room. In the five lines etched at the top of the image, we learn that he has no food or tobacco and is unable to go out for fear of the ‘Arm’d Blue Devil’ (i.e., a bearded ‘bobby’ or a Metropolitan Policeman, a member of the force founded by Sir Robert Peel in 1829) who can be seen through a window with a cracked pane. John Bull complainant about “Observing the Sabbath with a vengeance” is a response to Sir Andrew Agnew, the Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire, attempt to enforce better Observance of the Sabbath through the introduction of four bills to the House of Commons between 1830 and 1847. On his third attempt Charles Dickens wrote ‘Sunday Under Three Heads’ (1836), a personal attack on Agnew, whom he described as a fanatic, motivated by resentment of the idea that those poorer than himself might have any pleasure in life. Agnew left Parliament in 1837, ending the campaign.
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
834.04.00.01
Acquired March 2014