The Printshop Window

~ Caricature & Graphic Satire in the Long Eighteenth-Century

The Printshop Window

Monthly Archives: September 2020

George Bickham the Elder, Trade Card Medley, c.1705

18 Friday Sep 2020

Posted by theprintshopwindow in George Bickham the Elder

≈ 2 Comments

A short post to share an image of an interesting auction find – A trompe-l’œil medley print advertising the skills of the engraver George Bickham the Elder (1683/84-1758). Although chiefly remembered as an engraver of ‘serious’ subjects such as portraiture and calligraphy, Bickham also turned his hand to political and social satire during the early years of the eighteenth-century and appears to have exhibited a particular fondness for medley prints. Medleys were engravings designed to look as though a series of separate prints had been casually arranged on a table or other flat surface. They worked on a number of levels; as crude optical illusion, as an advertisement for the multifaceted skills of the engraver and as satire. Bickham’s The Whig’s Medley (1711) for example, attacks the writer Daniel Defoe by arranging a mock frontispiece to one of his works alongside images of the regicide Oliver Cromwell, a “deformed head in the pillory” and the knaves from a deck of playing cards. This image may also have a satirical subtext but if that is the case then I must admit that it’s largely lost on me – although the representation of a woodcut illustrated squib entitled The Scotch Wedding is presumably a reference to the Act of Union between England and Scotland which was under negotiation at the time this print is likely to have been published?

The date of publication can be estimated from the address which appears on the mock trade card panel at the bottom of the plate, as George Bickham is thought to have lived in Hoop Alley, Old Street, around 1705. The British Museum owns two other versions of the same print. The first is identical to this one but carries the publication line of Cluer Dicey (c.1713-1775) in place of those of Henry Overton’s (1676-1751). The second was published by Overton but has been modified to include an additional playing card in the bottom right hand corner which obscures Bickham’s address (presumably because he no longer lived there). This suggests that either Bickham engraved multiple plates, or that the same plate was passed back and forth between the two publishers over a period of time.

 

Recent Posts

  • C.J. Grant, The Caricaturist, A Monthly Show Up, 1831-1832
  • J.V. Quick, A Form of Prayer to be Said… Throughout the Land of Locusts, 1831
  • A Designing Character: A Biographical Sketch of Joseph Lisle (1798 – 1839)
  • Original works by John Collet (1728 – 1780)
  • The Origins of The Plumb-Pudding In Danger?

Recent Comments

Jonny Duval on C.J. Grant, The Caricaturist,…
theprintshopwindow on C.J. Grant, The Caricaturist,…
jonny duval on C.J. Grant, The Caricaturist,…
C.J. Grant, The Cari… on Guest Post: “They quarre…
C.J. Grant, The Cari… on Every Body’s Album &…

Archives

  • December 2022
  • December 2021
  • August 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013

Blogroll

  • Boston 1775
  • Cradled in Caricature
  • Francis Douce Collection Blog
  • Georgian Bawdyhouse
  • Georgian London
  • James Gillray: Caricaturist
  • Mate Sound the Pump
  • My Staffordshire Figures
  • Princeton Graphic Arts
  • The Droll Hackabout
  • The Lewis Walpole Library Blog
  • The Victorian Peeper
  • Yesterday's Papers

C18th caricatures for sale

  • Sale listings

Online resources

  • Resource archive

Useful sites

  • British Museum Collection Database
  • British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
  • Brown University Collection of Napoleonic Satires
  • Locating London's Past
  • London Lives
  • Old Bailey Online
  • The South Sea Bubble Collection at Harvard Business School
  • Treasures of Cheatham's Library

Contact me

printshopwindow[at]gmail.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • The Printshop Window
    • Join 114 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Printshop Window
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...