The Bottle

George Cruikshank

The Bottle

London, D. Bogue 1847

Glyphographs

420 x 290 mm

Full set of 8 plates with title.

£380

George Cruikshank’s The Bottle caused a sensation when it was published in 1847. In a series of eight plates, inspired by the 18th century painter William Hogarth’s The Rake’s Progress, Cruikshank charts a drinker’s decline from first glass to unemployment, poverty, violence and insanity. The plates were cheaply produced to ensure that they would be affordable for the poorer classes, but a wide range of more expensive editions were available. Imitations, dramatisations and piracies (unauthorised copies) appeared within days, followed by all kinds of Bottle-decorated merchandise from tea-sets to lantern slides.

From the collection of Dr. C.S. Warren, Descendant of Dr. Joseph Warren of Bunker Hill fame.