Charles Williams after Woodward
The conclusion of the first volume of the caricature magazine.
London, Thomas Tegg, Sept. 1st. 1807
Etching
Original hand colouring
245 x 350 mm
£220
The design is surrounded on the upper and side margins by a festooned curtain; from this, in the upper corners, smiling heads look out supporting a chain of prints, small copies of plates in the volume, overlapping one another. These form a border to the central figure, who stands, like a showman, addressing the spectator, arms extended, opera-hat in his right. hand. He resembles the man who stands chapeau-bras in BM10889. Behind him (l. and r.) stand six grinning figures, men and women, who listen to him. All seven are grotesque figures with large heads, typical of Woodward’s ‘Lilliputians’ . He says (the words etched above his head across the centre of the design): Ladies and Gentlemen having compleated the first volume of the Caricature Magazine I am desired in the names of the Proprietors. Publisher Artists &c. as also from myself and large-long [see BMSat 10604, &c], and small headed Bretheren to return you our sincere thanks for the kind reception we have experienced, in this the commencement of our exertions, and at the same time to assure you that neither pains nor expence shall be spared to merit your future patronage, you are requested to be as early as possible in giving your orders for the first number of the second volume, for the present Ladies and Gentlemen we most respectfully take our Leave. At the base of the design, flanking a tablet on which the title is etched in small letters are on the left, ink-stand, book: Sketches from Nature, and a rolled print or drawing. On the right are painting materials: palette, with brushes, and mahl-stick, small bags of (powdered) colour, porte-crayon, and another print or sketch. The prints depicted are on the left, reading downwards: Solomon in all his Glory, A Cruise to Covent Garden, ‘The Sailors Defence, A sailor addresses a magistrate who sits in an armchair ‘An Irish Epitap, Jack Junck Embarking on a Cruize, ‘The Exciseman and the Countryman, The two drink together; a third man stands behind the Excisema, We hop [hope] to Speed, a copy, partly hidden, of this plate. The prints on the right, reading downwards: Unlawful Union, a virago seated opposite an elderly John Bull forming a Catalani of his own, Nautical comfort’, John Bulls Peep into the Budget… , A Riddle Expounded or the Dignity of a Parsons Horse, The Road to London or the Countryman and the Quakers, A stout yokel addresses a prim lank Quaker, a second Quaker stands by, Smoaking a Parson. BM 10916
