BM 4205a
English Liberty Established, or a Mirrour for Posterity John Wilkes Esqr the undaunted Assertor of the Liberty of the Press and the Rights of Englishmen.
[1768]; London: Printed for J. Lee, at No. 111 near Cripplegate; and sold by J. Williams, No. 38 in Fleet Street; and J. Kingsberry, No. 47, in Tooley Street, Southwark [Price Six-pence], (51.5 x 32.5 cm)

Three decorative images at the top; beneath are three columns of text. The central of the three decorative images is a portrait from the waist of John Wilkes holding onto a rolled copy of the Bill or Rights; he is wearing a decorative coat with buttons. Image to the right features a carriage with driver and a large crowd surrounding it; above this is a medallion labeled “Algernon Sidney” and a copy of the Magna Charta [Carta]. The image to the left is an interior scene where three men are around a table signing documents; there are three men to the left, on the walls are two framed prints. Above is a medallion which reads “John Hampden” and a liberty cap.

BM 4422
Political Electricity; or, An Historical & Prophetical Print in the Year 1770.
[1770]; Bute & Wilkes invent. Veridicus & Junius Fect. Published according to Act of Parliament, (69 x 41 cm)

Engraving with text beneath labeled as “References”; image features twenty-six separate designs. See detailed description of scene in CPDBM pages 649-660. Image features a minute Benjamin Franklin flying a kite at the top which affects an elaborate chain connecting many of the scenes together. Identified figures are Lord Bute on the coast of France and several of King George. Other scenes also depict a birds-eye-view of a table where men are carving up a lion, a man mopping up the “National Debt”, numerous ships in a harbor with a dog looking on, a city ablaze, lined up troops, Boston Harbor with men on the shore working, a labor mob, a man being shot by a firing squad, and a man in a carriage leaving St. James’s Palace. 

BM 5490
The Tea-Tax-Tempest, or the Anglo-American Revolution; Angewitter entstanden durch die Auflage auf den Thee in Amerika. Orage cause par l’Impot sur le The en Amerique.
[1778]; CPDBM indicates Carl Guttenberg of Nuremburg, (41.5 x 48.5 cm)

Engraving which is similar to BM 6190; image features the figure of Father Time projecting a scene onto a curtain using a lantern mounted on a globe; beneath the globe are several open books. To the far left are packages labeled C.G. and M. In front and watching the scene on the screen are the female figures of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Father Time is pointing at the projected scene which depicts a central teapot, beneath are stamped documents ablaze and a cock using bellows to keep the embers going; to the right are Americans and troops with a flag charging; to the left are British soldiers fleeing. Beneath the image are two circular images, one features Holland in 1560 and one Switzerland in 1296.

BM 5533a
La Folie des deux parties, ou vue politique de l’etat et de la nation anglaise avec les senateurs en personnes.
[1778]; s.n., (41 x 32 cm)

Hand-colored engraving featuring three scenes with text beneath in French which starts, “Nouvelle et grande Parade Magique ou le Cabinet des I re Partie; Ministres et de la Minorite ouvert-de force en 2. IIe partie” and a lengthy description of the scene. The images feature Lord Bute with black wings whipping several mules who are pulling a large, loaded cart. There are numerous white dogs attacking the mules; they have been labeled as various British lords. In the sky is a man identified as “Secretaire” made up of quills and an inkwell. There is also a British general steering a sky balloon/boat towards the right with various parcels inside of tie. Behind the cart being driven by Bute are men attempting to push it out of the mud. Beneath the first scene are three crests labeled “Les armes de la graves”; to the right are men and devils on a seesaw and to the left are dogs walking on their hind legs steering a mule out of a building.

BM 5721a
[HET TEGENWOORDIG VERWARD EUROPA] [EUROPE IN HER PRESENT DISORDERED STATE] (title supplied by CPDBM)
[1780?]; s.n., (40.5 x 51.5 cm)

Engraving with printed poem beneath; image features an exterior view of a man and a young Indian child seated on a carved chest which is suspended in the air by a chain attached to the horn of a unicorn in the clouds. Two groups attempt to pull the chest down. To the left is a Dutchman grabbing one of the chest’s legs; next to him is a seated man on a trunk with bags of money and an open account book before him. To the left are France and Spain pulling the leg of Jack, an Englishman. In the distance are several windmills and men milking cows. Beneath the text is a poem which begins “Bold Jack pray, what’s the business to-day?”; image and text are bordered in what appears to be brick with moss growing around its edges. See similar print BM 5721.

BM 5728
Algemeene Staatkundige Konstplaat van ‘t Jaar 1780. Taille Douce Politique et Generale de L’Annee 1780.
[1780]; s.n., (42.5 x 41.5 cm)

Line engraving which features numerous political scenes in five rows; also accompanying the image is a transcribed version of the Dutch text which enumerates the scenes. Each image is labeled in the upper left 1-15. The images feature such scenes as cities ablaze, riots, shearing a lion, allegorical scenes, naval battles, Father Time winding a wheel, America sawing off the horn of a cow, men in front of an open trunk of money while behind them a columned structure collapses and a decorative flourish made out of ribbon. Many of the smaller scenes are reproductions of other engravings contained within the BM collection.

BM 5960
Be Not Surprised. Ne Soyez Pas Surpris.
[1782]; Kobon [Cockburn] pinxit. Marq. De Bouille fecit. London Publish’d Feb 12 1782 by H. Humphrey No 18 New Bond Street, (39 x 32.5 cm)

Mezzotint with engraving which features a French soldier, identified by CPDBM as de Bouille, following two soldiers who have been taken as prisoners; he is brandishing a saber and holds a flag. Behind him is a darkened entryway to a prison or fort. On the exterior of the fort is a sign reading “667 Anglois English 68 Pieces of Cannon 379 Francois French point de Retreat Retreat cut off 4 pair of Colours 4 Pavillions.” In the foreground are two discarded muskets. There is an additional soldier standing guard to the left and in the distance to the left is a French soldier leading off three more prisoners.

BM 6658a
The Birth of American Liberty.
[1784]; S. Harding delin. Ogborn sculpt London Publishd Oct 1 1784 by T Macklin No 39 Fleet Street, (42.5 x 35.5 cm)

Circular engraving in sepia tone with a script poem beneath. Image features fourteen women at the edge of a forest. To the far right is the ocean with several ships with masts nearing the shore; descending from the air is a cherub holding a liberty cap. All of the women are draped in robes, many with their hair up and wearing sandals. They are looking towards a central seated woman who is cradling a baby on her lap. Poem starts “Where great Columbus on th’ Atlantic coast”.

BM 8137
Tom Paine’s Nightly Pest.
[1792]; Js Gy design et fect – pro bono publico. Pubd Decr 10th 1792 by H. Humphrey, No. 18. Old Bond Street, (38 x 49.5 cm)

Engraving printed in brown tones. Image features a sleeping Tom Paine in a bed of straw in the foreground. He is in nightclothes, his hand grasping at the straw and his toes curled; on his lap are two items “Common Sense or convincing Reasons for Britons turning Sans Culottes as well as another open book. On the nightstand next to him is a rat, several quills, an inkwell and a paper labeled “The Golden Age”. He is wearing a hat labeled “Libertas”; his headboard is labeled “Guardan Angels” with images of two men with wings facing each other. Escaping through an open window is a devil with a fiddle and bow dropping a copy of “Ca-ira”. The curtain on the window is decorated with fleurs-de-lis. To the left is a dream vision which features three headless judges each with an unrolled scroll before them. Out of the mouths of one of the judges is the words “know villain, when such paltry slaves presume to mix in Treason, if the plot succeeds they’re thrown neglected by-but if it fails they’re sure to die like dogs! As you shall do”. To the left are gallows and to the right pillory; in the center is a pair of scales labeled “The scourge inexorable, and the tort-ring hour, awaits thee.”

BM Unidentified 17
Verklaaring Van de Zinnebeeldige Konstplaat.
[n.d.]; s.n., (33 x 41.5 cm)

Line engraving featuring an image at top of sheet with letter press text in Dutch below which annotates the various figures. In the image there is an All-seeing eye in the upper left with rays which light up the figures labeled 1-14. The images feature numerous women, one to the left is Justice with scales beneath a tent; in front of her is a woman with a liberty cap; next to her is a woman, a mirror, and an hour glass; other women have columns, anchors, bows, swords and shields, animals; one woman to the far right has a crown and a heron. In the center is a man having his head placed in a device which looks like a pillory. In the sky, descending from the clouds, is an arm with a sword and a chain link attached to various coats of arms.  

BM Unidentified 18
Vente des desertes du Scioto, par des Anglo-americains.
[1789]; A. Paris chez Depeille, Rue des Mathurains St. Jacques aux deux-Pilastres d’Or Extrait de lami des Lois no 821: Brumaire an 6me, (34 x 37 cm)

Engraving with French text beneath. The scene features an interior with decorative paneled walls and a tile floor. In the scene there are four men surrounding a table; one is hunting over signing a document while another one is emptying coins from a bag. Two men looking over their shoulders are wearing dark bicorn hats. To the right are five men surrounding an unidentified map; they are actively conversing.

BM Unidentified 19
L’Amerique Independante; Dediee au Congres des Etats unis de l’Amerique.
[1778]; Borel invenit et delineavit 1778 J.C. le Vaseur Sculptor Regis Et Majestm Imperm el Regm Sculp, (49.5 x 37 cm)

Engraving with French text and seal beneath. Image features an allegorical scene with Benjamin Franklin in the center pointing towards an allegorical female wearing an elaborate headdress, feathered skirt and a turtle beneath her feet. She is at the foot of a pedestal with a woman draped in robes holding onto a pole and liberty cap. Behind her is another woman with a spear, shield, and armor ready to plunge her weapon into a bare-chested warrior who is about to club a fallen man holding a chain link. Neptune is in the water with a broken triton and his crown washing away. To the left is Hermes and several other classical figures looking on.