James Gillray

The dearness of corn, and the increasing scarcity of provisions and high price of bread, led to rioting in the months of June and July, 1795. The Minister is said to have sent some recommendations to the Lord Mayor which were represented as implying principles like those expressed in this print. The following lines are printed beneath the plate :—

Billy the Butcher's Advice to John Bull.
Since bread is so dear (and you say you must eat),
For to save the expense you most live upon meat;
And as twelve pence the quarter you can't pay for bread,
Get a crown's worth of meat,—it will serve in its stead.
John Bull presents a picture of starvation, which is not usual with him

Good colour and good condition. Water mark in the paper says N&Co

Print 1795

Approx 11 inches by 14 inches

Thomas Rowlandson

Two men sit in a dilapidated room, the floor completely covered by water in which three pigs wade, ducks swim and dive, and geese run aggressively towards a dog. Their feet rest on boulders. One stout man in a broken chair sits with his elbows on a small round table, holding up a large watch, the hands showing that it is 9.40, and yawning deeply. On the table is a decanter containing a tiny 'blue devil' and a guttering candle stuck in a potato at which a rat is nibbling. Another rat runs up the table leg. The other man (right), with closed eyes, and hands on knees, sits on a stool, registering melancholy resignation. One pig (left) devours a 'Racing Calendar' which floats on the water. A fire of sticks burns smokily on a wide hearth; a large pot is overturning, the contents gushing over. Above the chimney-piece hangs a picture in a broken frame of a country house. There is one small casement window, half boarded up, the other half partly stuffed up with a pair of breeches. A ham and a hare hang from hooks in the ceiling. High up on the wall is a small shelf on which is broken china; a cat stands on it.


Hand-coloured etching, with good margins.

published by H. Humphrey, 12 May 1812.

Water mark J Whatman 1817

Height: 12 inches, width: 18 inches

Charles Williams, pseudo. Argus

On the left Ministers assail a young woman, representing the East India Company. On the right the fort of Monopoly is attacked from the sea by gun-boats flying the flags of 'Free Trade' and the Out Ports. The Company, in a fainting condition, sits on the ground directed to the right and leaning against a large tea-chest inscribed 'Con[gou]', next which is one inscribed 'Bohea'; under her dropping hand is the 'Charter Granted to the East I[ndia] Co.' Her left arm rests on a pile of three bales of textiles inscribed respectively 'Chinz', 'Muslins', 'Nankeens'. The weapons of the Ministers are bulky rolled documents, all inscribed 'India Bill', which they hurl against her or use as bludgeons. The three foremost are Melville in Highland dress, Castlereagh, and Sidmouth. Behind them (left) runs up the fat Buckinghamshire, who has hurled one roll, and has two more under his arm. A paper inscribed 'a tour in Buckinghamshire' projects from his pocket. He is followed on the extreme left by Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, bringing up a load of 'India Bill' ammunition, and with papers inscribed 'Budget for 1813' in his pocket. Facing the distressed woman is a man who runs towards her with a protecting gesture, saying: "In Hume-man Man." A paper in his pocket inscribed 'Jack my Son's Speech' indicates Randle Jackson.
Among them stands a man scattering coins and holding up a sheaf of 'India Bonds', showing that these pamphleteers are venal. On the ground by the breech in the fort lies a large paper headed: 'Proofs of utility of E.I.C. debts 3.000.000, loss to the public £16 000, 000 gain to the company 10 pr Cent'.

Contemporary hand colouring.

Published February 1st 1813 by M. Jones, No.5 Negate Street.

Laid on to blue card. Good condition

Height: 8.5 inches Width: 19.5 inches

James Gillray

Contemporary copies of Gillray’s set of skating prints (BM10474-7).

(d) Making the most of a passing friend in a case of Emergency! A man who is falling through the ice clutches desperately at the leg of a passing skater so as to drag him towards the hole he has made. From the edge of the ice on the right projects a post with a notice board: Humane Society - - Whereas this Pond is very deep & dangerous, it is requested that no persons will rashly venture to Skate upon it.

Plate trimmed down and laid onto card. Original colour good condition.

Approx. Height: 9.5 inches Width:13 inches

James Gillray

Contemporary copies of Gillray’s set of skating prints (BM10474-7).
(c) A Fundamental Error in the Art of skaiting. One man falls violently, arms and legs in the air; he brings the ferrule of his stick heavily down on the eye of a neighbour who has just landed on his posterior, his legs and arms extended. In the background three other skaters have fallen, and lie or sit, legs in the air.

Plate trimmed down and laid onto card. Original colour good condition.

Approx. Height: 9.5 inches Width:13 inches

James Gillray

Contemporary copies of Gillray’s set of skating prints (BM10474-7).
(b) The consequence of going before the wind. An elderly man, holding his umbrella in front of him to form a sail, cannonades into another skater, who falls, the apex of the umbrella entering his mouth, while his foot strikes the stomach of the aggressor. The ice cracks beneath them. The latter wears wrinkled ankle boots: the victim more fashionably dressed. In the background a boy with a basket laughs at the collision; near him a man falls forward, his umbrella and hat torn from him by a gust, whose strength is indicated by a wind-swept tree.

Plate trimmed down and laid onto card. Crease across top right corner. Original colour good condition.

Approx. Height: 9.5 inches Width:13 inches

James Gillray

Contemporary copies of Gillray’s set of skating prints (BM10474-7).

(a) Attitude! Attitude is everything! Two skaters strike attitudes in the foreground. The one of the left with hands on hips, describes a curve on the outside edge of the left foot, the right foot being held out stiffly. He looks aggressively towards the other, a younger man who bends his knees; arms extended, and grins at his rival. The former wears a Spencer over a short coat, the latter a tailcoat; both wear Hessian boots, but those of the latter, who is more fashionably dressed, reach to the knee and are tassled. Both hold sticks. In the background a pair of men with folded arms skate back to back in doing a figure of eight; a third skates forward fast with hands on hips. The scene is a lake in a snow-covered landscape.

Plate trimmed down and laid onto card. Original colour good condition.

Width 13.5 x Height 9.5 Trimmed within the plate mark

William Heath Print
Wellington, in his characteristic neat blue coat and white trousers, flees in terror, his hat falling off, from a large braying ass, wearing a Chain of Office and Alderman’s robes. As a result of an alarmist letter from the Lord Mayor-Elect John Key (Master of the Stationer’s Company), and many rumors of an assassination plot, Wellington had decided that the King’s visit to the Guildhall for the Lord Mayor’s Dinner should be cancelled. The papers ridiculed the Government’s cowardice, but even the radical politician Francis Place considered the Ministry’s fears well founded.

London, S. W. Fores 1830 Original hand colouring
Trimmed, good condition good colour.
BM 16305.

Width:13.5 inches Height: 9.75

William Heath

No publisher’s line could be a McLean. At the top of the image is ‘Quadrilles – Evening Fashions – Dedicated to the Heads of the Nation,’

A happy scene of two couple dancing. Beneath is printed;
“Nature, I thought perform’d too mean a parte
Forming her movements to the rules of art;
And vex’d I found the dandy barbers hand
Had o’er the Dancers heads too great command”.

Good original colour. c.1829

14 ¼ x 9¼. Trimmed within the plate mark,

George Cruickshank
Being depressed over debt meant having the "blue devils." The blue devils incite the miserable debtor to excess drinking and self-destruction.Below him appear from left, a coffin bearer, Death, three pregnant women, an usher from the Church of England,and a shark's open mouth.The small artist to the upper left is painting with fire while standing on a book,"Miseries of Human Life."
Published by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St. January 10th 1823.B.M.14598

Plate trimmed and laid on card. Good original colour.

Height: 8.5 inches x 10 inches. margins.