- Museum number
- 1870,1008.1496.1-4
- Title
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Object: Figaro's prophetic almanack.
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Object: A pait of unmentionables.
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Series: Figaro in London
- Description
-
Vol. 1; No. 30; a letterpress paper, consisting of four pages, headed with wood-engraved vignette and illustrated with three further cuts on the first, second and third pages. 30 June 1832
(1) vignette heading (BM Satires 16830), for description see 1870,1008.1468;
(2-3) FIGARO'S PROPHETIC ALMANACK. (No. 17162 [1] and [2])
[1] A sloth in bishop's wig and mitre leans from a hillock to seize with a long tongue the tiny men and women below him. He is unconsious of a fierce dog, its collar inscribed 'J Bull', which is about to leap on his back from a 'dog star'. The King's head, registering anguish and enclosed in the sun, is 'setting in great glory' (right), while opposite are a waning moon enclosing the angry face of the Queen (see No. 17076, &c.) next to 'Mars', a star framing a profile of Wellington. In the background are factories with smoking chimneys.
[2] Britannia, tortured by a nightmare, lies with drooping head, a goblin seated on her chest (one of many echoes of Fuseli, cf. No. 15497, &c.). Wellington (left), in uniform, approaches her, and geese fly towards her, screaming 'War, Famine, Taxes, Troubles shall cease'. Facing them is Hercules with raised whip, inscribed 'Peace & Truth shall reign', while a drummer-boy beats his drum. In the sky are cabalistic figures as in No. 15923, &c. (This second design was borrowed from Moore's Almanack. Figaro, 7 July.)
(4) A PAIR OF UNMENTIONABLES. (No. 17155)
'Unmentionables' was a new word in 1830; popularized by Dickens in 1836.A pair of breeches, legs in air, one topped (left) by the head of Irving, the other by that of Perceval. From one pocket hangs a paper: 'Unknown Tongues'; from the other, 'General Fast'. (The two religious fanatics (or maniacs) are equated. See Nos. 16943, 17348. The cut is borrowed from the forthcoming Comic Magazine.)
- Production date
- 1832
- Dimensions
-
Height: 286 millimetres (approx. page size)
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Width: 220 millimetres (approx. page size)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Issues 29 and 30 have been bound in slightly the wrong order in this copy of Figaro; issue 28, ending with p. 112, is followed by the first page of issue 30 (pp. 117-18), then issue 29 (pp. 114-16), then the last page of issue 30 (pp. 119-20). This has led Dorothy George to describe 'A pair of unmentionables' (p. 119, BM Satires 17155) slightly out of sequence, and as belonging to issue 29.
In a bound volume containing "Figaro in London" Vols. I and II (1832-1833). Subsequent volumes (III, IV, V, VI and VII) are kept at 298*.a.20 to 22. For group record for Vols. I to VI see 1870,1008.1467-1937. Vol. VII is registered separately as 1982,U.4511.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Figaro in London
- Acquisition date
- 1870
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1870,1008.1496.1-4