Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1804
Mapmaker / artist
After William Marshall Craig
Publisher
Richard Phillips, London
Technique
Copper Engraving
Coloring
Hand colored
Sheet size
25.5 × 19.5 cm (10.0 × 7.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-12935-33
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light wear to the bottom right corner. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Faint show-through of text from the reverse. Printed image clean.
About this sheet
An original antique hand colored copper engraving of a London street seller, lettered "DOOR MATS." below the image and "Charing Croſs" in script above it. A man in a round hat, long brown coat and red breeches walks to the right, toward the statue, with a large bundle of rush door mats on his back and another mat in his hand. Behind him, inside its iron railings, stands the equestrian statue of Charles I on its stone pedestal, with tall stone buildings beyond.
The location "Charing Croſs" is engraved in script, with a long s, at the top of the plate and the cry "DOOR MATS." in open capitals at the bottom. Below the border, the lower left corner carries the artist credit "Craig. del." (meaning Craig drew it), and the center carries the imprint "Published Augst. 25 1804 by Richard Phillips 71 St. Pauls Church Yard", dated August 25, 1804. No engraver is named. The bronze statue of Charles I at Charing Cross, cast by Hubert Le Sueur, has stood at the top of Whitehall since the 1670s.
Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis was published in London in 1804, printed for Richard Phillips of No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Alongside its views of public buildings it carried a series of plates of the street traders of London, each showing a seller with his or her wares against a recognizable London setting, named in script above the image, with the trader's cry engraved below. William Marshall Craig, credited on the plate as the draftsman, was a London painter in watercolors and miniatures and a drawing master. His designs for the series record the dress, tools and goods of the people who sold in the streets of Georgian London, and they remain a valuable document of everyday life in the city at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The small format, double ruled border and fresh coloring suit a single frame or a group of street cries hung together.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
