Grosvenor Prints

Geo Bodens [in pencil.] Col [in ink.]
JS[ayers]
Published 4 June 1792. by G. Bretherton.
Etching. Plate 178 x 115mm. 7 x 4½". Crease. Ink title cut.
Colonel George Boden (fl.1780) commissioned in 1762 and a member of Boodle's, he was described as "the fattest, best-tempered and most popular man in London".
BM Satires 6064.
[Ref: 14462] £65.00 (£78.00 incl.VAT)

The Comet A Return of the Comet which appeared in 1761² is expected this Year and - to be within our horizon from the Month of Oct. 1788 to Aug.t 1789 but is expected to be most visible (if it forces itself upon our notice) in the Winter months Febr.y & March...
18.th Feby 1789 Pub by Tho.s Cornell. Braton Street.
Etching with aquatint. 230 x 290mm (9 x 11½"), with wide margins. Slight creasing & staining.
A comet traverses the design diagonally downwards. At its head the Prince Wales is a star. Following in its tail are Fox and Portland. After them comes the wig in back view of Lord Loughborough. Then comes Stormont and North. They are followed by the Duke of Queensberry holding up a quizzing-glass and Powys. Behind them are Lord Lothian, Burkeand the Duke of Norfolk. Between Norfolk and Queensberry is the 'profil perdu' of Derby. They are followed by Lord Sandwich, Bishop Watson of Llandaff, and Sir Grey Cooper. Next are Wilson, Bishop of Bristol, and Warren, Bishop of Bangor, while in the upper left corner Sawbridge.
BM 6796
[Ref: 54530] £650.00

[The Speaker; Charles Wolfran Cornwall.]
JS[ayers] f.
Published 14th July 1784 by Jas Bretherton.
Etching on thick laid paper, 175 x 110mm. 7 x 4¼". One rust spot, to upper part of wide margin.
Caricature of Charles Wolfran Cornwall (1735 - 1789), Speaker of the House of Commons from 1780-89, in his Speaker's wig and robes. His chair and a raised dais are indicated behind him. He looks to the right, holding out his hat in his left hand. Beneath his feet are the words 'Order, Order, pray Order'. By James Sayers (1748 - 1823). Sayers's caricatures were so powerful and direct in their purpose that Fox is said to have declared that they did him more harm than all the attacks made on him in parliament or the press.
BM Satires 6064. NPG D9691.
[Ref: 21303] £120.00 (£144.00 incl.VAT)

A Transfer of East India Stock.
J.S. [James Sayers] f.
Published 25th Nov.r 1783 by Thomas Cornell, Bruton Street.
Etching. Sheet 305 x 230mm (12 x 9"). Trimmed to plate, some creasing and spotting.
Charles James Fox carries the East India House through the gateway of St. James's Palace. He treads on a list of East India Company directors. A satire on Fox's attempts to bring the Company under the control of the government, particularly the sovereignty of India.
BM Satires 6271.
[Ref: 61318] £130.00 (£156.00 incl.VAT)

[Elizabeth Farren & Robert Bensley.] [A Scene in the Fair Circassian a woeful Tragedy written by Mr. Pratt. So Bensley stared with all his might / E'en till his Eyeball started / So Farren flew to meet his sight / But she had laced herself so tight / Her Top and Bottom parted.]
JS [James Sayers].
[n.d., c.1782.]
Scarce etching, 18th century watermark. 285 x 360mm (11¼ x 14¼"), with large margins. Title of later state added in pencil.
Elizabeth Farren as Almeida and Robert Bensley as Omar in Samuel Jackson Pratt's 'The Fair Circassian', first performed in 1781. Almeida's torso is not connected to her petticoats; Omar holds a chain attached to his wrist and a disembodied eye just in front of his face (in shock). The British Museum has an impression with the title 'A Puff Off' in an inscription area under the image, which it believes was never published (BM Satires 6359). This state has the inscription area excised but does not have the etched text in the sky of the later state (BM 6359a), here reproduced in pencil, but lacking 'moving' of 'A Moving Scene...'. The Metropolitan Museum has an impression of this state with the inscriptions of the first state added in old ink, including 'Published March 16th 1782 by C. Bretherton' (17.3.888-337).
State between BM 6359 & 6359a)
[Ref: 60764] £450.00

[George IV] To be seen at Mr S_n's Menagerie the wonderful, learned Han-r Colt, who writes a letter blindfolded. NB He is in training for sev.l other useful Purposes, Also a very curious Monkey, who can read & write a little, & imitates the human Voice, Also several very extraordinary Rats from Holland Buckinghamshire Wilton Poole and other Places.
JS [James Sayers].
Pub 27th Jany 1789 by Thos. Cornell.
Etching. 210 x 260mm (8¼ x 10¼") very large margins.
The Prince of Wales depicted as a blinkered horse, writing a letter guided by Sheridan. Lord Derby is caricatured as an ape squatting on the table. To the left is Louis Weltje, George's cook, saying 'By Got he vill teach de Orse to speak'. A satire of the Regency Crisis, when Pitt attempted to limit the Regent's powers. Here it is suggested that George's response was drafted by Burke and Loughborough and touched up by Sheridan.
BM Satires 7493.
[Ref: 61004] £230.00 (£276.00 incl.VAT)

Concerto Coalitionale.
J.S. [James Sayers] f.
Published ye 7th June 1785 by Thomas Cornell.
Etching, 18th century watermark. 305 x 410mm (12 x 16") very large margins. Wear to edges, central fold, spotting.
An orchestra featuring the members of the Whig Opposition to Pitt's Tory government, especially his attempts to settle the Irish situation. Fox plays the fiddle; Burke the trumpet; Lord Surrey the cello; Lord North the bassoon; Lord Carlisle the clarinet; Derby the pipe and tabor; Eden the Irish harp; and Portland the harpsichord. They are playing Captain Morris's song, 'The Treaty of Commerce', a clever attack on the Pitt's Propositions put in the mouth of an Irishman.
BM 6795, with an extensive description.
[Ref: 51645] £480.00

An Ex-Minister training a Terrier at Bowood "Latrat et ore fremit, bile tumetque Je-cur."
J.S. [James Sayers] f. March 1798.
[Unpublished in pencil.]
Etching. 210 x 275mm (8¼ x 11") very large margins. Slight stain at top.
William Petty, Marquess of Lansdowne, urges a dog, with legal wig and gown and the face of Joseph Jekyll, to bark at the bust of Pitt sheltering in a lair. On January 3rd Jekyll had made a violent and personal attack on Pitt in a speech on the Assessed Taxes Bill.
BM Satires 9179
[Ref: 51627] £180.00 (£216.00 incl.VAT)

[John Lee.]
JS[ayers] f.
Published by Jas Bretherton 14th July 1784 [but a later impression?].
Etching on wove paper, 175 x 110mm. 7 x 4¼". Faint trace of vertical crease, evident to verso. A decent impression, with good margins.
Caricature portrait of John Lee (1733 - 1793), Attorney-General in 1783, M.P. for Clitheroe; standing with his arms folded, looking left. His portrait was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1786, and was exhibited in that year at the Royal Academy. By James Sayers (1748 - 1823). Sayers's caricatures were so powerful and direct in their purpose that Fox is said to have declared that they did him more harm than all the attacks made on him in parliament or the press.
See BM Satires 6641. NPG D9832. DNB.
[Ref: 21324] £60.00 (£72.00 incl.VAT)

[Thomas Powys] The Atlas of the Landed Interest. To Pitt by Friendship I am tied / Yet always with his Foes divide / Wou'd make this Son of England's Glory / A creature neither Whig nor Tory Wou'd have him quit his high Condition, / To grovel in a Coalition, Perswade him that a Tavern Vote / Shou'd make a Premier change his Note (A vote from coalescing Embers / of Faction, more than County Members) / Thus make this persevering Elf / As inconsistent as myself.
J.S. [James Sayers]
Published 10th Feb.y 1784 by Ja.s Bretherton.
Etching. 240 x 170mm (9½ x 6¾"). Trimmed within plate at bottom, old ink mss. over publisher's inscription.
A caricature portrait of Thomas Powys (1743-1800), M.P. for Northamptonshire from 1774 until 1797, when he became 1st Baron Lilford. Elongated, he walks with a corded bale marked 'Landed Interest For M[r Fo]x at Brookes's By the Carrier from St Alban's'. In early 1784 he attempted to effect a coalition between Pitt and Fox, the first step being a meeting at the St. Alban's Tavern.
BM Satires 6413.
[Ref: 58318] £130.00 (£156.00 incl.VAT)

[George Sackville] Head Quarters Brookes's, 18th July 1785. You are to attack the Enemy's Propositions at six o'clock this evening.
J.S. f [James Sayers].
Published by Tho.s Cornell 22nd July 1785.
Etching. 250 x 155mm (9¾ x 6"). Narrow margins.
Lord George Sackville declaiming, hand on his breast, waving a scroll inscribed 'Telum imbelle' (symbolizing his unsoldierly conduct at Minden, when he refused to obey orders). Behind and below him (right) are the grinning heads of Lord Stormont and Lord Derby, saying "Hear Hear Hear". Sackville made a surprise visit to the House of Lords to oppose the Irish Propositions. He died later that year.
BM 6802A
[Ref: 54571] £120.00 (£144.00 incl.VAT)

A Posthaste Conveyance for S-[cottish] Members.
JS[ayers] f.
Published as the Act directs by Jas. Bretherton New Bond Street 20th January 1784.
Etching on thick watermarked laid paper, 230 x 280mm. 9 x 11". Creasing to upper right margin.
Political satire: a Scotsman enclosed in a letter inscribed in large letters 'To The Majority St Stephens Westmr Free Duke or no Duke'; the letter franked 'Free'. A signpost (left) points 'To London', showing that he is being projected through the air from Scotland to London. A thistle at the foot of the post indicates Scotland. The fellow wears a Scots cap and tartan stockings. This is a satirical swipe at William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738 - 1809), who in April 1783 became Prime Minister, with Fox and Lord North as secretaries of state. The Duke was accused of corrupting Scottish MPs by means of a fund for travelling expenses – a theme still very topical! Portland resigned in December 1783, when Fox's India Bill had been thrown out in the Lords. By James Sayers (1748 - 1823). Sayers's caricatures were so powerful and direct in their purpose that Fox is said to have declared that they did him more harm than all the attacks made on him in parliament or the press.
BM Satires 6381. DNB.
[Ref: 21326] £110.00 (£132.00 incl.VAT)

[Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope] Anacharsis Cloots. L'Orateur du genre humain.
[James Sayers.]
[Hannah Humphrey. 12 May 1794.]
Soft-ground etching in red. 214 x 176mm.
Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope FRS (1753-1816) was a British statesman and scientist. In politics he was a democrat. As Lord Mahon he contested the city of Westminster without success in 1774, when only just of age; but from the general election of 1780 until his accession to the peerage on 7 March 1786 he represented through the influence of Lord Shelburne the Buckinghamshire borough of High Wycombe. During the sessions of 1783 and 1784 he supported William Pitt the Younger, whose sister, Lady Hester Pitt, he married on 19 December 1774. He was the chairman of the "Revolution Society," founded in honour of the Glorious Revolution of 1688; the members of the society in 1790 expressed their sympathy with the aims of the French Revolution. Stanhope was an accomplished scientist. Electricity was another of the subjects which he studied, and the volume of Principles of Electricity which he issued in 1779 contained the rudiments of his theory on the "return stroke" resulting from the contact with the earth of the electric current of lightning, which were afterwards amplified in a contribution to the Philosophical Transactions for 1787. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society so early as November 1772, and devoted a large part of his income to experiments in science and philosophy. He invented a method of securing buildings from fire (which, however, proved impracticable), the printing press and the lens which bear his name (Stanhope Press) and a monochord for tuning musical instruments, suggested improvements in canal locks, made experiments in steam navigation in 1795-1797 and contrived two calculating machines.
NPG: D9954.
[Ref: 12545] £95.00 (£114.00 incl.VAT)

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