On January 1, 1799, Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834) published the first of eight plates designed by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) of the Cries of London. Rowlandson’s ink drawings were etching and printed by the Swiss artist H Merke (fl.1799-1820) and hand colored in Ackermann’s shop on the Strand. The cost was two shillings and six pence colored or one shilling and six pence uncolored. Rowlandson continued to add to the Cries and in 1820, the complete set of fifty-four prints was published under the title of Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders. Princeton owns two copies of Rowlandson’s original peddlers and street hawkers, pasted into albums.
Graphic Arts’ second set of Cries has the artist’s name added to the bottom of each mat.
Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), [Etchings from Cries of London] (London: Ackermann’s, 1799). Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Oversize Rowlandson 1820.01.11q.
see also:
Diana Donald, The Age of Caricature: Satirical Prints in the Reign of George III (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996). Firestone DA505 .D73 1996
Joseph Grego, Rowlandson the Caricaturist: A Sketch of his life, Times, and Contemporaries (New York: J.W. Bouton, 1880). Graphic Arts GARF Oversize NE642.R7 G8q
