Chosen candidate

Chosen candidate. Detailed description below.

A caricature on the prevalence of bribery during elections, most probably that of 1826. The successful liberal candidate stands on a platform before a cheering crowd and people waving from the windows of adjoining building. In the ‘Committee Room’ behind him, an official pays a man holding a sign inscribed ‘No bribery or corruption’ with the word ‘and’ between bribery and corruption scored through. On the right is an armchair and behind it stand two large flags; two flowers on the chair match the flower on the lapel of the candidate.

  • Artist: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, artist.
  • Title: Chosen candidate [art original] / by Theodore Lane.
  • Production: [London], [ca. 1826]

Catalog Record 

Drawings L265 no. 2 Box D205

Acquired March 2019

Rejected candidate

Rejected candidate. Detailed description below

A caricature on the prevalence of bribery during elections, most probably that of 1826. The distraught rejected candidate, shown full-length and facing left is red in the face and pulling at his hair. His election placard lies on the floor and two notes are visible on the mantelpiece above a grill with fireplace tools: ‘Tavern expenses 500’ and ‘Bringing voters from London 800’. Through the window on the right, with flags flying, a cheering crowd carries the successful candidate in a chair above their heads.

  • Artist: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, artist.
  • Title: Rejected candidate [art original] / by Theodore Lane.
  • Production: [London], [ca. 1826]

Catalog Record 

Drawings L265 no. 1 Box D205

Acquired March 2019

The whole truth, or, John Bull with his eyes opened

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.”

  • PrintmakerLane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • TitleThe whole truth, or, John Bull with his eyes opened [graphic].
  • Publication[London] : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., Feb. 1st, 1821.

Catalog Record

821.02.01.04

Acquired March 2017

The flowing cann

lwlpr33262 (682x1024)

In two columns with the title in a ribbon atop a woodcut below stanza one. Stanzas 2 and 3 below image. A sailor at a seaside tavern (Jack Ocum) dances with a young woman as he holds his tankard. The fiddle music is played by a man who stands beside a woman in the tavern doorway. In the distance on the right is a sailing ship and along the shore, two men in a row boat.

  • Author: Dibdin, Charles, 1745-1814.
  • Uniform Title[Oddities. Song]
  • TitleThe flowing cann.
  • Published[London : Sold by J. Pitts, Great Saint Andrew St. ; Sold by C. Sheppard, Lambert Hill, Doctors Commons, Publish’d Septr. 18th. 1790?]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

790.09.18.01

Acquired October 2015

 

Ready mony the prevailing candidate

Click for larger image

 Print shows on the left, a statue of Justice in a niche beneath which a candidate, doffing his hat, offers a purse of money to a voter who replies, “Twill scarce pay, make it twenty more”, beside them a gentleman points to the statue saying “Regard Justice” to another carrying a bundle on his shoulder who replies, “We fell out, I lost money by her”. In the centre, in front of a large crowd are two candidates, both waving their hats, slip coins into two of the many pockets of a voter’s coat; one candidate says, “Sell not your Country” and the voter replies, “No Bribery but Pocketts are free”. Further to the right another candidate, saying “Accept this small acknowledgment”, offers a purse to a gentleman who grovels on the ground for coins that have been thrown down by the prevailing candidate, from his position on a chair supported by poles on the shoulders of four men. On the right, a statue of Folly in a niche empties bags of coins; before the statue is an altar on which a fire burns, a candidate kneels at its base imploring, “Help me Folly or my Cause is lost”; to the left of the altar, is a butcher crying “See here, see here” and to the right, a classical philosopher, saying “Let not thy right hand know what thy left does”, puts his hand behind him to received a bribe from a young man. Beyond is a tavern outside the landlord, wearing horns, calls out “He kist my Wife he has my Vote”; outside the tavern hangs the sign of a bottle with a large globe attached.

  • Title: Ready mony the prevailing candidate, or The humours of an election [graphic].
  • Published: London : Sold at the Print Shop in Grays Inn, [1727]

Catalog Record  & Digital Collection

727.00.00.02

Acquired July 2013