763 P632 779
Acquired October 2021
File 767 P69B C838 1822 2/7
Acquired August 2021
In this image, a full-length image of Edmund Kean as Othello constructed from parts of a print or prints while his costume and hat and their trimming are cut from satin cloth with additional decorated paper trimming and small metal buttons. This image is the only one of the four mounted on a secondary sheet, this one ruled as if from a ledger.
Drawings C697 no. 1 Box D115
Acquired April 2021
A playbill
File 767 P69B C838 1810 5/26
Acquired November 2020
Kean as Richard III, directed to the left, stands on a large volume with the word ‘Shakespear’ written on the top edge. Resting on his head and humped shoulders is a model of Drury Lane Theatre, a massive block, inscribed ‘Whitbreads Intire.’ On the roof is poised an ugly figure of Fame, blowing through a trumpet ‘Puff Puff Puff’, and holding behind her a second trumpet, from which issue the words ‘Puff Puff P’. In front straddles a tiny Whitbread, his legs and arms projecting from a cask which forms his body; he says: “Now by St Paul the work goes bravely on” (altering Richard’s words from ‘this news is bad indeed’). Kean stoops, leaning on a cross-hilted sword, inscribed ‘A Keen supporter’; he has misshapen bandy legs. He says: “Well, as you guess.” He wears an ermine-bordered cap encircled by a crown, slashed doublet and trunk hose, a sleeveless coat bordered with ermine and embroidered with a (Yorkist) rose, with flapped and spurred boots. (The figure, with the position of the arms altered, is a travesty of J.J. Hall’s portrait of Kean interrogating Stanley on the approach of Richmond. The costume is correct.) The stage is indicated by curtains flanking the design. In the background are clouds of smoke.–Adapted from British Museum.
814.05.17.01+
Acquired June 2017
Caricature with Queen Caroline (left) as Lady Macbeth in the mad scene, standing in the street before two shops; she holds a candlestick raised in her right hand as she holds out her dress with her left hand, looking down horror at her skirt which is decorated with three panels with images of men and labeled “Man B”, “Austi”, “Sapio”, “Mat …”, and “Bat”. The initials “C.B” are embroidered on the trim of her knickers. Standing to her right is an astonished John Bull who holds his hat in front of his face, arm extended in horror. The shop on the left is identified by a sign below second story windows with broken glass: Wholesale Dealer in Brass Forges, Ranges, &c N.B. Odd jobs in general. The street level is shuttered, its doors covered in graffiti: Gone away, Gone abroad, Empty, M.T. The one door has a knocker in the shape of a ram’s head. John Bull stands before the second door which stands open as if he has just emerged. The windows are curtained and the building well maintained. The large sign above reads “Time & Common-Sense Occulists. N.B. Films expeditiously removed &c. Below this sign (left) is a pair of large spectacles with the two eyeballs turned towards the shop on the left and a smaller sign (right) that reads “No connexion with the next shop.”
821.02.01.04
Acquired March 2017
Inscribed by artist on verso: Merry Wives of Windsor / Act 4- Scene 2nd / Fal[staff. No, I’ll come no more i’th basket / may I not go out to[o] soon / Mrs. Page. Alas, three of another Fr[ien]ds brother.”
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
Acquired November 2011