Rare Books
Trial of the sovereign empress of the vast regions of taste [BM 4929]
- Description
- This volume contains 146 British satirical prints, dating from 1760-1790, which are either etched or engraved and pasted onto pages in general chronological order. Many of the prints are annotated with handwritten identifications, descriptions, dates, and reference numbers from the British Museum Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires (BM numbers) in an unidentified hand. Ten of the prints have hand coloring (see pp. 16, 49, 57, 61, 67, 69, 76, 84, 110, and 116). The prints reflect a variety of political topics including the influence of Lord Bute (John Stuart); the 1763 Peace of Paris at the end of the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War); the American Stamp Act; the 1783 Fox-North Coalition; the 1784 Westminster election; and the Warren Hastings trial. Some of the depicted individuals include King George III; Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland; Princess Augusta; Charles James Fox; Warren Hastings; William Murray, Earl of Mansfield; Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford; Fletcher Norton; William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham; John Russell, Duke of Bedford; John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute; John Wilkes; and Cecil Wray. Many artists, engravers, and printers are represented including artists Thomas Rowlandson and William Hogarth and publishers E. Darchery, S. W. Fores, H. Humphrey, and W. Humphrey. One print, "A Foreign Tree" (page 116), is dated as 1789, but appears to be from 1793-4 during the French "Reign of Terror." There are also two pages containing handwritten descriptions of events (pp. 8a, 87).
