Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/347

 12 s. vii. OCT. 9, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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after years. The figures put after Douglas's numbers are his approximate values, interest- ing but of little use now, as prices have gone up, in consequence of the American demand. The following are mostly in quarto, but two quarto sheets were always on a folio sized copper plate, and printed together. West's characters in :

' Comus ' : I have this on the right of two quarto sheets forming an oblong folio sheet, dated May 21, 1815. Reid No., 483 ; Douglas No.,

1006, value 6s.

' The Merry Wives of Windsor ' : on the left, dated May 24, 1815. The date was put to secure copyright, in compliance with the Acts : but I apprehend that this difference in the dates, printed from one copper plate and on one sheet of paper, printed at the same time, vitiated the copyright. Perhaps one of your learned con- tributors would be kind enough to say whether I am right or not ?

' Coriolanus ' : a charming set of fifteen small characters, on one plate to ten scenes, May 21,

1815. The scenes are all architectural and well done, but not by the Cruikshanks : the perspective hopelessly wrong, though they look right to any one who has not studied perspective. I have the ten scenes dated Dec. 14, 1815, and also -a set redated 1824.

' Hamlet ' : one plate of small characters, Mar. 16, 1815. The year is altered on a later print to Mar. 16, 1825.

' Harlequin Brilliant ; or The Clown's Capers ' : fifteen small comic characters on the right of an oblong folio sheet, with the ' Welch Chieftains ' on the left. I have the two on one folio sheet, July 20, 1815. Reid No. 497 ; Douglas No.

1007, 6s.

' Harlequin and Fancy ; or The Poet's Last Shilling,' Drury Lane, Dec. 26, 1815, is G. C.'s finest set, it is on three folio plates. The water mark on my plates 1 and 2, dated Feb. 7, 1816, is 1829, but that on plate 3, dated Feb. 21, 1816, is "Whatman, 1828," and this sheet is larger than the other two, an unusual thing but West could not be depended on for regularity in any- thing. 'The Yorkshire Giant,' six inches high on plate 2. In front of him is 'Simon Paap,' one and a half inches high.

Fan cy = Columbine, was Miss Tree, sister to Mrs. Charles Kean. The Poet was J. P. Harley, whom I recollect in ' The Corsican Brothers ' at the Princess's Theatre in 1852. Clown =Paulo ; Harlequin = Hope ; Pantaloon=May ; Lover = J. Ebsworth. Feb. 7, 1816. Reid No. 564; Douglas No. 1008, value 30s.

' [Harlequin and Fortunio],* or ShingMooand Thun Ton (Covent Garden Theatre), Jan. 19,

1816. The above oblong folio sheet of characters was redated Jan. 19, 1827.

' Harleqxiin Whittington ' (Covent Garden

Theatre), in three plates of characters, Jan. 7,

1815. Capt. Douglas's prints were the re-issue redated 1825.

days they frequently spoke of a play by the second title.
 * It seems to me extraordinary, but in those

He says they are very good and he valued his- three plates at 2. Reid No. 5124-6 ; Douglasr- No. 1009.

The Print Room has no print of plate 3 : see- vol. i. folio 95, but in vol. iv. folio 53 is G. Cruik- shank's original pencil sketch for plate 3, in ' Harlequin Whittington.'

The clown (Grimaldi) is standing in tfoe fencing: position of "on guard " and in the usual wrong/ position represented by artists, with the weight of the body on both feet, or on the right instead? of the left foot. This figure is reproduced the same size on the front of the late John Salkeld's 7 Catalogue, No. 349, December, 1901. His son informed me that he had not the block.

' The High Mettled Racer ' (new pantomime} in four plates of small characters, May 5, 1815.- Redated May 5, 1825.

I have proof before letters of plate 1 ; also the prints in which West has written the names- of the actors. I also have them on the folio sheets as issued, July 17, 1815.

Plates 3 and 4 were not issued until West's address was altered from Exeter Street to Wycb Street, and dated July 17, 1825.

' Illusion [or the Trances of Nourjahad '] r dated Nov. 7, 1814. This is on the right, of an oblong folio sheet, with characters in ' Richard III.' on the left, dated Nov. 14, 1814. The scenes were dated Oct. 25, 1814 (redated 1825), and the- characters, Nov. 7, an indication that West could not get the drawings from Cruikshank. as characters were usually issued first.

' Jack Spratt and his Cat ' [i.e., ' Harlequin and Jack,' &c.], Jan. 29, 1817. This plate of fifteen small characters is carelessly drawn, but every character is brimful of fun : what the boys would call " a regular lark." The scenes are also- funny from their childishness. The scenes pro- bably by J. R. C. ? I find no record of the performance. The mark of the copper-plate is all round my print, showing that it was not on folio sheet.

'Lady of the Lake,' in two plates [by I. R. C.] r. Aug. 5, 1811. I have early proofs, and proofs after the plates have been worked on, necessitated* by number of prints taken from the copper,. - which wears off when numbers of impressions are taken ; this is now obviated by coating the etched surface with steel.

'The Little Hunchback,' P. R. iv. 29, July 5, 1815 ; redated July 5, 1825. I have this on the left of an oblong folio sheet, with ' Telemachus ' on the right : same date. Douglas No. 1011 ' r puts the value at 10s.

'Lodoiska' [by I. R. C.]," Aug. 21, 1811. I have early prints, and prints afterwards worked- on and address altered from Exeter Street to^57 Wych Street, and redated Aug. 21, 1824.

' MacbethV [by I. R. C.], July 31, 1811. I have two sets of the two plates : the" first bought at the sale after West's death, 1855 ; the second I bought of Blackwell, then of the Turnstile, Holborn, about 1884, and plate 2 is endorsed by him r "etched by Robert Cruikshank." I also have proof before letters of plate 2, which is very superior to the prints, showing they are redrawn by Cruikshank and are not tracings. Blackwell is given as an authority by Capt. Douglas, but l^took no note of the page, and the name^is not ii*