STEEL ENGRAVING - “JOHN WILKES ESQ.” from the original by William Hogarth, engraved by J. Moore, published in the mid 1800’s.  This engraving is in very good condition. The actual engraving measures 7 1/2” x 6”, and is matted to 11" x 14" for easy framing.  The following is a description from “The Complete Works of William Hogarth”.   I will include a copy of this with the engraving.                                                    

         This print is a fine caricature, and no faint likeness of John Wilkes, who was then member for Aylesbury, in the country of Buckingham - a man who stood forth as the leader of a party formed against the administration. The views with which he acted are now publicly known, and he lies under that disgrace he gathered for himself. Liberty he roared out on all occasions, being the bell-weather of his flock. With an eye to this, Mr. Hogarth has represented him as having been twirling the cap of liberty upon the end of a stick; for a fool’s cap it proved him, it having banished him his country, entailed upon him beggary, and made him the laugh of a jeering populace. On the table beside him are two papers of the North Briton, of which he acknowledged himself the author - viz, Nos. 45 and 17, the first of which was burnt by the common hangman.

        This print of Wilkes, which, as we have before observed, must be allowed to be an excellent compound caricature, or a caricature of what nature had already caricatured, is said to have been viewed by him with pleasant and philosophic indifference; he frequently jocosely saying to his friends, it grew every day into stronger likeness. He declared himself very little concerned about the case of his soul, as he was only tenant for life, and that the best apology for his person was, that he did not make himself. Equally memorable was Mr. Wilkes’s reply to a friend, who requested him to sit to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and have his portrait placed in the Guildhall, being then so popular a character that the Court of Aldermen would willing have paid the expenses. ‘No,” replied he - “No; they shall never have a delineation of my face, that will carry to posterity so damning a proof of what it was. Who knows but a time may come, when some future Horace Walpole will treat the world with another quarto volume of historic doubt, in which he may prove that the numerous squinting portraits on tobacco-papers and half-penny ballads, inscribed with the name of John Wilkes, are ‘a weak invention of the enemy;’ for that I was not only unlike them, but, if any inference can be drawn from the partiality of the fair sex, the handsomest man of the age I lived in.”

         In defence of Wilkes rose Mr. Charles Churchill, who called himself his friend! - one who, indeed, possessed extraordinary talents as a writer, but who was as remarkable for viciousness of character.  If he had any discretion, it was that of joining the popular side; but that can hardly be called discretion, when, had he lived a few years longer, he would probably have experienced the same fate with his contemporary, Wilkes. This man - a minister once he called himself, though he afterwards wisely laid aside that scared office, which he could only disgrace - this man took up the pen against Mr. Hogarth, and, in a epistle to him, which he published, charged him with envying every man that had any degree of excellence, and with being a friend to no one. This naturally drew on him Mr. Hogarth’s resentment, and was the occasion of his publishing the celebrated print called “The Bruiser.”

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, etchings, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes, which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, lithographs, ect., are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated in the auction, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.

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