Press Kit - Revisiting the Regency: England, 1811–1820

April 23–Aug. 1, 2011

Library, West Hall

In late October 1810, British doctors certified that England’s King George III had slipped into madness. By the following February, Parliament authorized the king’s estranged eldest son, the prince of Wales, to rule in his place. The prince regent would go on to preside over a glittering, tumultuous era that reflected his own predilection for glamour and extravagance. In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of an extraordinary decade in English society as well as tremendous advances in the arts, letters, and sciences, The Huntington presents an exhibition of more than 70 rare books, manuscripts, prints, and drawings from its far-ranging collections on the topic.

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Voucher to Almack’s issued to Anna Elizabeth Grenville, Marchioness of Buckingham, in April 1817. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens		“Battle of Waterloo,” engraving, from Thomas Hartwell Horne, The Campaign of Waterloo: Illustrated with Engravings, London: R. Bowyer, 1816. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Diagram of one of the earliest working steam locomotives, constructed by George Stephenson  between 1819 and 1822, from Thomas Tredgold, A Practical Treatise on Rail-Roads and Carriages, London: J. Taylor, 1825. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens		George Cruikshank, “English Generals on the Peace Establishment,” hand-colored engraved print, Jan. 25, 1816.  Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
George Cruikshank, “Monstrosities of 1816,” hand-colored engraved print, March 12, 1816. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens		Ludwig van Beethoven, autograph manuscript fragment, score for the first chorus of “King Stephen,” ca. 1811. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
“Green Dress,” from La Belle Assemblée, or Court and fashionable magazine, containing interesting and original literature, and records of the beau-monde, London: J. Bell, March 1817.  Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens		Othello, playbill for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, 1819. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
“Petitioners for Admission at Almack’s,” from William Heath, Illustrations to Almack’s, London: S. W. Fores, 1827. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens		Opening chapter of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice: A Novel, in 3 volumes, London: T. Egerton, 1813. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
G. F. Cruchley, New Plan of London in Miniature…Shewing the new improvements in St. James Park, Hyde Park, and Regent’s Park, London: Cruchley, ca. 1830. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
George Cruikshank, “The Prince of Whales,” hand-colored engraved print, May 1, 1812.
Thomas Rowlandson, “Vauxhall Gardens,” from Microcosm of London, London: T. Bensley, [1808–11?]. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens		Bookseller’s bill, showing the wide variety of novels and other publications available for readers in London in 1819. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
George Cruikshank, “A Shilling Well Laid Out, Tom and Jerry at the Exhibition of Pictures at the Royal Academy,” from Pierce Egan, Life in London; or, The day and night scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, esq., and his elegant friend Corinthian Tom, London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1821. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens		“The Music Room” by Augustus Charles Pugin, from John Nash, The Royal Pavilion at Brighton, London: John Nash, 1826. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens