Knives, scissars and razors to grind

description below

Two women stand before a knife grinder and his cart equipped with a grinding wheel, on the sidewalk before an open door and under a street lamp. The woman closest to the viewer hands him a pair of scissors while the other looks on. In the background on the right, a woman carrying a baby on her back walks away from the scene.

  • Printmaker: Vendramini, Giovanni, 1769-1839, printmaker.
  • Title: Knives, scissars and razors to grind [graphic] = Couteaux, ciseaux, rasoirs a repasser / painted by F. Wheatly R.A. ; engraved by G. Vendramini.
  • Publication: London : Pubd. as the act directs Jan. 1, 1795, by Colnaghi & Co., No. 132 Pall Mall, [1 January 1795]

Catalog Record

795.01.01.03+

Acquired April 2023

Mrs. Jordan in the character of the Country Girl

description below

“Portrait of Mrs Jordan as Peggy in ‘The Country Girl’ after Romney, standing three-quarter length with her hands clasped together in front of a doorway and column; state after title changed, before engraver’s name altered.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Ogborne, John, 1755-1837, printmaker.
  • Title: Mrs. Jordan in the character of the Country Girl [graphic] / George Romney pinxit ; John Ogborne sculpsit.
  • Publication: [London] : Publish’d June 24th, 1788, by John & Josiah Boydell, No. 90 Cheapside, London, [24 June 1788]

Catalog Record

Portraits J82 no. 2

Acquired February 2023

William Hogarth copper plate

copper plate

Copy of a self-portrait by William Hogarth; the artist is portrayed as if on an oval canvas resting on a pile of books; in the foreground, his dog Trump, his burin and palette.

 

  • Creator: Smith, Benjamin, -1833, engraver.
  • Title: William Hogarth [realia] : from the original picture in the collection of John & Josiah Boydell / painted by W. Hogarth ; engraved by Benj. Smith.
  • Manufacture: [London] : Published June 4, 1795, by J. & J. Boydell, No. 90 Cheapside; & at the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall Mall, [4 June 1795]

Catalog Record

Hogarth 795.06.04.02

Acquired July 2022

New Rooms Hanover Square, the Concert of antient music

description below

A ticket issued by the Concert of Antient Music in 1812, for an event held at the Hanover Square Rooms in London. In the center, a bust in profile looking left, within oval lettered ‘New Rooms Hanover Square, The Concert of Antient Music‘ and surmounted by musical instruments; date ‘1812’ above.

  • Printmaker: Cooper, Robert, active 1795-1836, printmaker.
  • Title: New Rooms Hanover Square, the Concert of antient music [graphic] / Robt. Cooper scult.
  • Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], 1812.

Catalog Record

File 74 812 C778

Acquired February 2022

Lessons to a young prince, by an old statesman

title page

  • Author: Williams, David, 1738-1816, author.
  • Title: Lessons to a young prince, by an old statesman, on the present disposition in Europe to a general revolution … : with the addition of a lesson on the mode of studying and profiting by Reflections on the French revolution, by … Edmund Burke.
  • Edition: The third edition.
  • Publication: London : Printed for H. D. Simmons, Pater-noster Row, MDCCXC [1790]

Catalog Record

53 G294 W721

Acquired April 2020

The Bengal levee

description below“Lord Cornwallis holds a levee in Government House, Calcutta, in a large room divided by a panelled partition which stretches across the design from left to right and is broken by three wide doorways, showing an inner room, crowded with guests, with three large windows between which are pier-glasses in ornate frames. In the spaces between the doorways are four candle-sconces placed above four of Thomas Daniell’s ‘Views of Calcutta’, either the originals or (more probably) the aquatints. [Published by him at Calcutta 1786-8, reproduced in W. Corfield’s ‘Calcutta Faces and Places’. Cf. also ‘Memoirs of William Hickey’, iii. 327, 342.] In the nearer portion of the room the figures are dispersed; Cornwallis stands in the inner room on the right, his right hand on his breast, left in his breeches pocket. He is talking to Cudbert Thornhill, a grotesque-looking civilian who faces him in profile to the right. Behind Thornhill, waiting to approach Cornwallis, is King Collins wearing regimentals. Behind this group is a crowd of unidentified guests. The figures in the foreground (left to right) are: Lt.-Col. Alexander Ross, secretary to Cornwallis, who is talking to Colonel John Fullarton, senior officer at the Presidency (‘East India Kalendar’, 1791, p. 14). Next, a stout civilian, with legs thick to deformity, holds both hands of a very slim and foppish civilian; they are John Haldane and Claud Benizett, [Identified by Wright and Evans as John Wilton.] Sub-Treasurer. The centre figures are a very stout colonel talking to a thin and grotesque civilian holding a long cane; both wear spectacles. They are Colonel Auchmuty and William Pye, Collector of the Twenty-four Pergunnahs. A grotesquely ugly little civilian, standing alone in profile to the left, taking snuff, is W. C. Blaquiere. [Identified by Wright and Evans] On the extreme right an obese man and a cadaverously thin man, both civilians, take each other’s hands in an affected manner; they are Robert MacFarlane, Clerk of the Market, and John Miller, Deputy of Police. From MacFarlane’s pocket hangs a long paper: ‘Price Current Calcutta Market Grain Rice Bran Paddy Agent’. Behind Pye stands the Rev. Thomas Blanshard, a very stout man in profile to the left with his hands behind his back. Behind him a civilian grasps the hands of a Greek priest wearing robes and a high hat. They are Edward Tiretta of the Bazaar and Father Parthanio. …”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker.
  • Title: The Bengal levee [graphic] / etch’d by Js. Gillray, from an original drawing made on the spot by an amateur.
  • Publication: London : Publish’d Novr. 9th, 1792, by Js. Gillray, Chealsea, & by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street, [9 November 1792]

Catalog Record 

792.11.09.01++ Impression 2

Acquired November 2019

A long story

description below“A number of men seated round a circular table over the wine manifesting sleepiness or exhaustion in different ways, while an officer in regimentals harangues them on some campaign. He sits over the table, in profile to the right, gesticulating with outstretched arms over a plan drawn on the table-cloth. Two overturned wine-glasses lie in front of him, two empty bottles stand on the table. On the farther side of the table a man stands up, stretching and yawning violently. His neighbour on his right also yawns; the man on his left supports his head on his hands, scowling at the speaker through half-closed eyes. Next him (right) a man in profile to the left holding a wine-glass yawns widely. Two others in profile to the right are asleep in attitudes of extreme weariness. A very fat man, sitting on the left. I turned away from the table, with outstretched legs in top-boots, yawns violently. From the right enters a servant with tousled hair, wearing a striped jersey; he is bringing in a boot-jack and pair of slippers, he too is yawning violently. In the foreground are two dogs.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Title: A long story [graphic] / H. Bunbury Esqr. invt.
  • Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], [ca. 1802?]

Catalog Record 

802.04.25.02+

Acquired November 2019

The smoaking club

description below“Elderly men sit and stand, all smoking long pipes; large clouds of smoke issue from their mouths, but little or nothing comes from the bowls of their pipes. Most sit or stand silently morose; two standing men (left) appear to be puffing smoke in each other’s faces. One leans back, apparently asleep, but smoking. An ugly man seated on the extreme right takes the hand of a pretty young woman who stands opposite him; he holds a large key. She slips a note into the hand of a fierce-looking military officer who stands with his back to her. On the wall (right) is a placard: ‘At a general meeting of this Society, it was resolv’d by a Majority of Independent members, that any member may be Indulg’d with having the Key brought him, by his Servant or hand-maid, but on no pretence whatever be followd by that bane of good fellowship calld the White Sergeant.’ Above the door are framed Rules: ‘Ist No Gemman to be a member of this Society who cannot smoke three pipes at one sitting – NB no Spitting 2d No members pipe to be more than 14 Inches nor less than nine unless permitted so to do by the Landlady 3d Every member to find his own Stopper 4th Any member who puffs designedly in the face of another, to be find sixpence or be puff’d at in return by the whole company 5th All fines to be spent in Porter T. Twig Secy’ On the back wall is a large print of Sir Walter Raleigh seated smoking (right) while a servant raises a bucket to fling at the smoke.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Scott, Edmund, approximately 1746-1810, printmaker.
  • Title: The smoaking club [graphic] / I. Boyne delt. ; E. Scott sculpt.
  • Publication: London : Publish’d 10 Jany. 1792 by Bull & Jeffryes, Ludgate Hill], [10 January 1792]

Catalog Record

792.01.10.03++

Acquired March 2019

Refreshment at St. Giles’s

Refreshment at St. Giles's

“Three women and a man stand drinking gin in an interior in St Giles’s, London; the woman on the left grabs a bottle from a shelf, to her right a woman holds up a gin cup; the man stands behind the three women leaning against a clock and a fireplace.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Stubbs, George Townly, -1815?, printmaker.
  • Title: Refreshment at St. Giles’s [graphic] / Chas. Ansell delt. ; Geo. Townly Stubbs sculp.
  • Publication: London : Publish’d June 1st, 1789, by G.T. Stubbs, No. 2 Compton Street, Soho, [1 June 1789]

Catalog Record 

789.06.01.03+

Acquired April 2019

Susanna Oakes

lwlpr32599 (671x1024)

Portrait showing Susanna Oakes, who ran the circulating library at Ashbourne from about 1795 until 1801, seated in a ladder-back chair with a backdrop of shelved books. She is seated beside an occasional table, her quill pen within reach, in an attitude of contemplative thought. Her left arm is clearly seen to have a muscle wasting disease, and a cane resting against the chair confirms some form of disability.

  • TitleSusanna Oakes [graphic] : keeper of the circulating library at Ashborne [sic] in the County of Derby.
  • Publication[Derby : J. Drewry, 1802?]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

Portraits Oa11 no. 1

Acquired July 2015