Black-Dick turn'd taylor [graphic].

Published/Created:

[London]
Pubd. Feby. 4th, 1788, by G. Humphrey, No. 48 Long Acre
[4 February 1788]

Copyright Date:

[4 February 1788]

Physical Description:

1 print : etching with stipple on laid paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 23.6 x 22.7 cm, on sheet 24.0 x 24.0 cm

Related Links:

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6, no. 7262
Wright, T. Works of James Gillray, the caricaturist with the history of his life and times, p. 93

Notes:

Title etched below image.
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue.
Old Print Shop; March 1961; Acquisitions no.: 961-3-1-284.
Watermark: Strasburg Lily.

Abstract:

"Lord Howe (left) sits cross-legged on a tailor's shop-board working at a naval coat which lies across his knees. He holds up a threaded needle in his right hand; in his left are shears with which he is about to cut the thread. He says, "I have now finish'd my Seven Years Plan of the N-v-l Uniform; next the Marines must be Blue, faced with White, & White Buttons. I shan't let the Guardships cruize as formerly, a bad plan, give me young Officers that know little, then I may shew my skill - The word Merit should be expung'd from the Dictionary. Next Year I must set a few more of the old Ninety Two's aside, & have smart young Admirals. I'll have a general reform soon." Beside him is a tailor's goose, &c. Behind him (right) five naval coats in course of completion hang from a row of pegs, two have elaborately wide cuffs, one of which is decorated with an anchor. Beneath the board on which Howe sits are demons from whose operations smoke rises to surround him. Two grotesque nude creatures (left), one very thin, the other obese, are on the top of a circular platform which rests on a mast flying an ensign. They are cooking a goose, a cabbage, and a cucumber, all emblems of the tailor, cf. BMSat 5805, &c. The place where the 'cabbage' (pilfered cloth) was kept was called Hell. Grose, 'Dict. Vulgar Tongue', 1796. Next them a large devil with a gridiron under his arm stretches out his talons, saying, "And I'll have a general Reform soon as I shall get you before you are aware of it. I've ting'd your Heart so may safely leave you to go on."--British Museum online catalogue

Variant Titles:

Black-Dick turned taylor
Black-Dick turned tailor

Associated Names:

Gillray, James, 1756-1815 [Printmaker]
Humphrey, G. 1773?-1831? [Publisher]

Topics:

Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley
Demons
Great Britain. Royal Navy
Harvey, Francis
Howe, Richard Howe, Earl, 1726-1799
Riviere & Son
Tailor shops
Tailoring

Language:

English

Genre:

Etchings -- England -- London -- 1788
Satires (Visual works) -- England -- 1788

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Prints & Photographs

Rights:

These images are provided for study purposes only. For publication or other use of images from the Library's collection, please contact the Lewis Walpole Library at walpole@yale.edu. Further details on the Library's photoduplication policy are available at http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/html/research/rights_reproductions.html

Call Number:

788.02.04.02

Orbis Record:

7946588

Yale Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Digital Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Local Record Number:

lwlpr06347

Volume/Enumeration:

Digital version

OID:

10728398

PID:

digcoll:553347