STEEL ENGRAVING – “UNCLE TOBY AND THE WIDOW” from the original painting by Charles Robert Leslie, engraved by L. Stocks, published in 1878.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The engraving measures 10” x 6 ¾”, and is matted to 11” x 14” for easy framing.

    In this illustration we have the famous scene between the Widow Wadman and My Uncle Toby, from Sterne’s “Tristram Shandy.”  The Widow Wadman is most desirous to make a breach in the heart of Captain Shandy, or, more familiarly, Uncle Toby, and finds a suitable opportunity for commencing operations as she sees him seated one day in his summerhouse, or “sentry-box.”

            “I am half distracted, Captain Shandy,’ said Mrs. Wadman, holding up her cambric handkerchief to her left eye, as she approached the door of my Uncle Toby’s Sentry-box; ‘a mote – or sand – or something – I know not what, has got into this eye of mine – do look into it – it is not in the white.’

            “In saying which Mrs. Wadman edged herself close in beside my Uncle Toby, and squeezing herself down upon the corner of his bench, she gave him an opportunity of doing it without rising up – ‘Do look into it,’ said she.

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            “I see him yonder with his pipe, pendulous in his hand, the ashes falling out of it – looking, and looking – the rubbing his eyes, – and looking again, with twice the good nature that ever Galileo looked for a spot in the sun.

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            “I protest, Madam, said my Uncle Toby, ‘I can see nothing whatever in your eye.’  ‘It is not in the white,’ said Mrs. Wadman.  My uncle looked with might and main into the pupil.”

            The expression of the two faces is wonderfully felicitous; the inquiring look of the Captain and the archness of the Widow could not be rendered with more natural unaffectedness.   “Uncle Toby” is a portrait of Bannister, the celebrated comedian.  The picture was exhibited at the British Royal Academy, in 1831.

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, and lithographs 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, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.

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