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The Chinese House, the Rotunda, & the Company in Masquerade in Renelagh Gardens.
The Chinese House, the Rotunda, & the Company in Masquerade in Renelagh Gardens. [parallel text in Fernch]
Bowles delin.t / Bowles sculp
Printed for John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhill, & Carington Bowles in St Pauls Church Yard, London [n.d., c.1750]
Line engraving with hand-colouring, watermarked paper 18th century; platemark 285 x 410mm (11¼ x 16"). Small margins; staining; very good colour.
Ranelagh Gardens, adjoining Wren's Chelsea Pensioner's Hospital, became popular as a place to escape the city and take in the cleaner air in Chelsea. Its admirers included Smollett, Edward Gibbon, Horace Walpole and the Duke of Cumberland. Balls, concerts, dinners and of course gossip were shared here almost daily. It quickly exceeded Vauxhall in popularity, but it's popularity waned until the season of 1804 when the fashionable set abandoned it entirely. During the masquerade depicted here, participants were disguised or in fancy dress, often favouring Oriental costume. This Oriental taste was reflected by Ranelagh's 'China House' created in 1750. The rococo rotunda, built by William Jones, was 150ft in diameter and heated by a large fireplace. Mozart once played at the orchestra stand inside it. After one of several pictures of the area which Antonio Canaletto (1697 - 1768) painted while resident in London.
[Ref: 37212]   £380.00  
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The Enthusiastic Orator.
The Enthusiastic Orator. 6.
[after Robert Dighton] Printed and Sold by Carrington Bowles, at N.o 69 in S.t Pauls Church Yard, London.
Publish'd as the Act directs; 25 Sep.r 1782.
Etching, 18th century watermark, plate 175 x 280mm (6¾ x 11), with large margins.
A republishing from the series 'Twelve elegant and humorous prints of rural scenes, adorned with comic figures, by Robert Dighton.' Preaching to a small group of pious elderly women and artisans, a minister is standing on a bench beneath a tree with his arms raised and a handkerchief in his right hand. Approaching from the right, two young chimney sweeps, astride the same donkey, make fun of the preacher. The scene is rural, with grass and bushes, but St. Paul's dome can be seen in the distance.
See BM Satires 6752.
[Ref: 61962]   £160.00   (£192.00 incl.VAT)
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Industry and Idleness.
Industry and Idleness. 1. The Fellow 'Prentices at their Looms. [&] 3. The Idle 'Prentice at Play in the Church Yard, during Divine Service. [&] 4. The Industrious 'Prentice a Favourite, and entrusted by his Master. [&] 6. The Industrious 'Prentice out of his Time, & Married to his Master's Daughter. [&] 8. The Industrious 'Prentice grown rich, & Sheriff of London. [&] 10. The Industrious 'Prentice Alderman of London, the Idle one brought before him & Impeach'd by his Accomplice. [&] 11. The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn.
[Engraved for Carington Bowles after designs and engravings by William Hogarth.]
[n.d. c.1770.]
Working proofs before letters. Incomplete set of 7 unique engravings. Very unfinished. 190 x 280mm (7½ x 11").
Seven of twelve morality satires by William Hogarth (1697 - 1764), charting the careers of two London apprentices. Hogarth later described the series as ‘calculated for the use & Instruction of Youth’. The ‘good’ apprentice, Francis Goodchild, and ‘bad’ apprentice, Tom Idle, are seen together in Plates 1 and 10. Throughout the rest of the series their respective ‘careers’ are compared and contrasted. The apprentices’ physical appearance is also contrasted. Goodchild’s expressions are serene and polite, his demeanour elegant and gentlemanly, while Idle’s features become increasingly contorted and grotesque, and his posture slovenly and misshapen. The first plate sees the two apprentices together in the same silk-weaving workshop in Spitalfields. Goodchild works diligently at the loom, while Idle is fast asleep. Two volumes entitled ‘The Prentices Guide’ [not etched at this time] are strategically placed, symbolising their respective attitudes to work and authority. Goodchild’s is in pristine condition, carefully propped against a thread winder but the other is soiled, ripped and discarded on the floor. The series' end sees Goodchild’s triumphal procession as Lord Mayor at the heart of the City of London, while Idle’s ignominious end is execution on the gallows at Tyburn.
iii: W122, see Paulson 170. iv: W125, see Paulson 171. vi: W124, see Paulson 173. viii: W120, see Paulson 175. x: W126, see Paulson 177. xi: W123, See Paulson 178.
[Ref: 16339]   £950.00   view all images for this item
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[The Italian Puppet Show.]
[The Italian Puppet Show.]
[Printed and Sold by Carington Bowles, No 69 in St Pauls Church Yard, London. Published as the Act directs, 24th June 1785.]
Engraving with original hand colour, rare. Trimmed to oval 160 x 240mm (6½ x 9½"). Trimmed within plate, laid on album paper with the title written in ink underneath.
A street puppet show, with the main character the traditional 'Pulcinella' (Punchinello or Punch), with his wife 'Joan', later Judy. In the audience a fish-wife drops fish from her basket, distracted by the show. This appears to be from a series of acts or amusements making headlines in the mid-1780s.
[Ref: 32836]   £160.00   (£192.00 incl.VAT)
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The East View of the Inside of Westminster-Hall, with both Houses of Parliament assembled on the Tryal of Simon Fraser Lord of Lovat. Shewing the Scaffolding, The Throne & the Seats erected on that occasion…
The East View of the Inside of Westminster-Hall, with both Houses of Parliament assembled on the Tryal of Simon Fraser Lord of Lovat. Shewing the Scaffolding, The Throne & the Seats erected on that occasion…
Printed for & Sold by Carington Bowles No.69 St. Paul's Church Yard, London. [n.d., c.1770.]
Engraving on two sheets conjoined, total 550 x 920mm. Trimmed to image on three sides, binding folds flattened.
The trial of one of the leaders of the Jacobite rebellion, 1747. Fraser was the last man to be beheaded on Tower Hill.
[Ref: 811]   £680.00  
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The Manchester Hero, or Arts yield to Arms.
The Manchester Hero, or Arts yield to Arms. From the Original Picture by John Collett, in the possession of Carington Bowles.
Printed for & Sold by Carington Bowles, at his Map & Print Warehouse, No. 69 in St Pauls Church Yard. Published as the Act directs, 20 April 1778.
Mezzotint. 365 x 260mm.
The willing victim of a recruitment party.
[Ref: 7246]   £260.00   (£312.00 incl.VAT)
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Keep Within Compass And You Shall be Sure, To Avoid Many Troubles Which Others Endure.
Keep Within Compass And You Shall be Sure, To Avoid Many Troubles Which Others Endure. Industry Produceth Wealth. [&] Keep Within Compass And You Shall be Sure, To Avoid Many Troubles Which Others Endure. Prudence Produceth Esteem.
[After Robert Dighton] Printed for & Sold by Carington Bowles, N.o 69 S.t Paul's Church Yard, London.
Published as the Act directs 9 Nov.r 1784 [& 16 Aug. 1785].
Scarce pair of mezzotints with hand colour. Each 350 x 250mm (14 x 10"). Framed. Time stained, faded colour, some damage, Unexamined out of matching 19th century frames.
Portraits of two righteous people, standing underneath the arc of an extended pair of compasses with 'Fear God' on the cross bar, with moneybags at the feet of the man and 'Rewards of Virtue' at the feet of the woman. In the corners are scenes of wantonness and its just rewards. The compass is one of the great symbols of freemasonary.
BM Satires 6903 & 6907.
[Ref: 60771]   £1,200.00   view all images for this item
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Pompey the Little.
Pompey the Little.
Printed and Sold by Carington Bowles, No 69 in St Pauls Church Yard, London. [n.d., c.1785.]
Engraving with original hand colour, rare. Sheet 165 x 245mm (6¾ x 9½"). Trimmed within plate, laid on album paper.
A small spaniel, the main character in Francis Coventry's hugely-successful satirical novel, 'The History of Pompey the Little; or, The Life and Adventures of a Lap-Dog', first published 1751. Pompey, born in Bologna ('a place famous for lap-dogs and sausages') describes society as he passes from owner to owner, exchanged for sexual favours, a gold watch and a pint of porter. Many of the human characters are thinly-veiled versions of society figures. The last edition was published in 1924.
[Ref: 32952]   £220.00   (£264.00 incl.VAT)
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The Inside View of the Royal Exchange at London.
The Inside View of the Royal Exchange at London. Veue du dedans de la Bourse Royale a Londres.
Bowles Delin et Sculpt.
London, Printed for Bowles and Carver 69 St Paul's Church, R. Wilkinson 58 Cornhill amd Laurie & Whittle 53, Fleet Street [n.d., c.1794].
Coloured engraving. 285 x 425mm (11¼ x 16¾"). A few marks in title, top corners of margins snipped.
A view of the interior courtyard of London's second Royal Exchange, designed by Edward Jerman and opened in 1669, destroyed by fire in 1838.
[Ref: 59819]   £240.00   (£288.00 incl.VAT)
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Tommy Playfair, drawn by his Favourite Dog.
Tommy Playfair, drawn by his Favourite Dog.
Printed and Sold by Carington Bowles, No 69 in St Pauls Church Yard, London. [n.d., c.1785.]
Engraving with original hand colour. Sheet 165 x 240mm (6¾ x 9½"). Trimmed within plate, laid on album paper.
A boy in a haycart drawn by a dog. Playfair appears to have been a well-known character: Robert Dighton the Elder drew a scene called 'Tommy Playfair's Cart'.
[Ref: 32846]   £95.00   (£114.00 incl.VAT)
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