A set of playing cards, or transformation cards, drawn by an unidentified artist, showing caricatured figures; each vignette incorporates the formation of hearts or diamonds into the scene. Some of the cards are numbered or annotated on the backs while others show drafts of other sketches. The set contains only the red suits, cards numbered from one to ten in each, although some numbers are missing and there are multiples of some numbers. Illustrations are also duplicated while others appear not to have been finished. There are no cards with clubs and spades. A number of the cards center on Shakespearean themes, social history, and street scenes (such as courtroom drama, musicians performing, a man in the stocks and, in a few, card playing itself). Some of the scenes depicted on these cards show more ribald, drawing from Macbeth’s Weird Sisters, Twelfth Night, King John, and The Merry Wives of Windsor; several are annotated on the reverse with lines from the plays. Falstaff is featured on several cards. Many of the cards reflect the mores of the period and the contrast between ruling passions and rules of conduct. In one, two men cast judgment upon a pregnant woman; it is annotated on the reverse with a dialogue between a Constable and a Judge. In "Village School" a schoolteacher manages to simultaneously hold a book and pinch a child's ear (nine of hearts). Other subjects include a game of chess (five of diamonds); drinking and smoking in a pub (seven of diamonds); and "Bunbury’s Country Club" (six of diamonds) in which the artist has kept elements from the print (published circa 1788). On the ten of diamonds the artist depicts a game of whist (annotated on the reverse "Can you one?").
Description:
In English., Title devised by cataloger., Some cards annotated and numbered on the verso., and For further information, consult library staff.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
Subject (Topic):
Playing cards, Card games, and Social life and customs
A group of drawings that illustrate select scenes from Laurence Sterne's novel The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman. The drawings vary in level of detail and completeness; one is a slight pencil sketch, two are more detailed drawings in pen and ink over pencil, and three are elaborate drawings in ink and wash. The drawings are bound in as either the frontispiece or before the frontispiece, one in each of the six volumes of the eighth edition of the work. Several of the compositions were later engraved, presumably from larger designs by Bunbury
Description:
Collection title devised by cataloger., The drawings are unsigned, and only one has a title written at the bottom., Bound in H.W. Bunbury's copy of: Sterne, L. The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman. London : Printed for J. Dodsley, 1770., In slipcase., and With H.W. Bunbury's original drawings (cataloged separately) bound in; also with verses in unidentified hand on end-papers of v. 4.
A scene from Horace Walpole's Gothic novel The castle of Otranto: Isabella standing at left in front of the mouth of a cave, her left hand held out in front of her and her right hand at her breast. On the ground in front of her lies a knight in armor wearing a red sash; Theodore, also wearing armor, stoops down and holds the hand of the injured knight. Several servants mull around behind Isabella; beyond them on the right is a forest, at the edge of which a horse waits
Description:
Title devised by curator., Unsigned; artist not identified., Date of production supplied by curator., and Mounted opposite page 152 in an extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. The castle of Otranto. Parma : Printed by Bodoni, for J. Edwards, London, MDCCXCI [1791].
A drawing for Act 3, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth
Description:
Title and date based on published print engraved by J. Coles and published in London by Thomas Macklin, November 30th, 1792. and Formerly in the collection of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York. See Macklin print.
A scene from Horace Walpole's Gothic novel The castle of Otranto, with the characters Manfred and Theodore standing at center and three servants holding torches standing at left. The location is a dimly-lit vault, its arched ceiling supported at intervals by short columns; Theodore points upward to a hole in the ceiling that was broken through from above. Manfred, standing beside the pointing Theodore, looks up in astonishment, leaning backwards slightly with his left arm out in front of him
Description:
Title devised by curator., Unsigned; artist not identified., Date of production supplied by curator., and Mounted opposite page 36 in an extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. The castle of Otranto. Parma : Printed by Bodoni, for J. Edwards, London, MDCCXCI [1791].
A scene from Horace Walpole's Gothic novel The castle of Otranto, with the characters Isabella and Manfred depicted full-length at center, both facing left. Isabella, who is being chased by Manfred, looks back over her shoulder at him with a worried expression, her arms out in front of her. Manfred, who has just seen the portrait of his grandfather move off the wall behind him, is arched backwards and shielding himself with his right arm, a startled expression on his face as he looks up at the painting that is partially off the wall. A window at left and two chairs behind the characters complete the furnishing of the room
Description:
Title devised by cataloger., Signed by the artist in ink in lower left corner of sheet., Date of production from local catalog card., Page reference written in ink in upper right corner: Page 19., For another version of this scene, drawn by Anthony Highmore, see Lewis Walpole Library call no.: LWL Mss Vol. 170., and Mounted opposite title page in an extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. The castle of Otranto. London : Printed for Tho. Lownds in Fleet-Street, MDCCLXV [1765].
A scene from Horace Walpole's Gothic novel The castle of Otranto, with the character Manfred depicted full-length on the right, facing left with his arms out in front of him, a horrified expression on his face. He's watching six servants on the left hold an enormous black helmet topped with large black feathers; below the helmet a man lies on his back, blood on the ground surrounding his head. The castle stands in the background, with a low round tower and a crenellated wall immediately behind the figures and higher walls and towers rising in the middle distance
Description:
Title devised by cataloger., Signed and dated by the artist in ink in lower left corner., and Tipped in opposite page 4 in an extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. The castle of Otranto. London : Printed for Tho. Lownds in Fleet-Street, MDCCLXV [1765].
The scene in the church after Manfred has stabbed his daughter Mathilda. She lies on a cot as Theodore holds her head in his hands; a monk with a crucifix in his hand also attends her. Behind the monk, Manfred with arms crossed against his chest looks down in anguish. In the background (right) the right arm of the statue of Alfonso the Good points down accusatorily at the scene unfolding below his tomb
Description:
Title devised by curator. and Date based on Horace Walpole's letter (dated 22 February 1796) to Bertie Greatheed's father in which he admires his son's four drawings that were inspired by his reading of The Castle of Otranto. All four drawings are bound in Horace Walpole's extra-illustrated copy of The Castle of Otranto (Lewis Walpole Library 49 3729).
Subject (Name):
Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797.
Subject (Topic):
Churches, Homicides, Monks, and Tombs & sepulchral monuments
A scene from Horace Walpole's Gothic novel The castle of Otranto, with the characters Matilda and Theodore speaking to one another from windows on separate levels of the castle. One facade of the castle is shown, with two trees growing in the foreground and additional trees, fields, hills, and a pond visible in the distance on the right. Matilda can be seen in the open half of an arched window on the upper floor; she looks outward, her arm propped against the opposite side of the window. Theodore, in a similar pose, looks out from the open window on the level below
Description:
Title devised by curator., Unsigned; artist not identified., Date of production supplied by curator., and Mounted opposite page 69 in an extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. The castle of Otranto. Parma : Printed by Bodoni, for J. Edwards, London, MDCCXCI [1791].