The British Museum Caricatures of the Peoples of the British Isles

The British Museum Caricatures of the Peoples of the British Isles. Tim Clayton. The British Museum Press. [pounds sterling]9.99. 96 pages. ISBN 978-0-7141-5056-7. The British Museum's collection of satirical caricatures is unsurpassed--it numbers over 20,000--and Mr Clayton has here given readers a delightful sampling.

The caricatures represent the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. He includes a short introduction and gives short explanatory notes alongside the caricatures. This was an art at which the English excelled and one remembers names such as Hogarth, Gillray and Cruickshank. Most of these drawings are therefore English (that is, London's) views of the rest of the Kingdom and most are unflattering. (There are, however, some interesting ones by the Frenchman, Aaron Martinet.) This is an interesting collection and leaves one wanting more. (P.P.F.)

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