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A Victorian reprint of Gillray’s famous caricature map of England

Britannia.

London: Henry George Bohn, 1851. Coloured etching. Sheet 270 x 190mm.
Stock #:  25900

£350.00

1 in stock

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Description

A comical map of England as a elderly Britannia seated on the back of a scaly sea monster, with a dove sitting on the back of her hand. All the named features are coastal; inland, not even London is marked. The map was drawn and etched by James Gillray (1756-1815), and first published in 1791 by Hannah Humphrey (1750-1818), Gillray's publisher, landlady and perhaps life partner. Shortly after her death her stock of copper printing plates were sold: despite Gillray being the most influential caricaturists of his time, the plates were valued only as scrap metal and dispersed. However London publisher managed to gather a large number of the plates, eventually publishing 582 in ''The Works of James Gillray from the Original Plates' in 1852.

Condition:

Small tear in top edge.

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