The Pictorial Press: Its Origin and ProgressJackson, Mason
History
The Pictorial Press: Its Origin and Progress
Jackson, Mason
Illustration of books; Newspapers -- Illustrations
The illustration is a roughly executed woodcut, and represents a street
of booths opposite the Temple, looking towards the Middlesex shore. On
one side are men skating, sliding, riding on sledges, and playing at
football; whilst bull-baiting, skittle-playing, &c, go on on the other
side. Coaches are driven across the ice, boats are dragged as sledges,
and an ox is roasted whole in one corner.
[Illustration: FROST FAIR ON THE THAMES, 1683.]
The other broadside has a woodcut of the same scene, but taken from a
different point, and looking _down_ the river, with London Bridge, the
Tower, Monument, &c, in the distance. In addition to a description of
Frost Fair, there is an account of all the great frosts from the time of
William the Conqueror.
Some curious particulars of this great frost are recorded by
contemporary writers. Evelyn describes the whole scene, and says that he
crossed the river on the ice on foot upon the 9th, in order to dine with
the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth; and again in his coach, from
Lambeth to the horse-ferry at Millbank, upon Feb. 5th, when 'it began to
thaw, but froze again.' Hackney-coaches plied between Somerset House and
the Temple to Southwark. There was a printing-press set up in one of the
booths, 'where the people and ladys tooke a fancy to having their names
printed, and the day and year set down, when printed on the Thames. This
humour took so universally that 'twas estimated the printer gained about
£5 a day for printing a line onely at sixpence a name, besides what he
got by ballads, &c.' A specimen of this printing has been preserved. It
was executed for Charles II., who visited Frost Fair accompanied by
several members of his family. It contains, besides the names of the
King and Queen, those of the Duke of York, Mary his Duchess, Princess
Anne (afterwards Queen Anne), and Prince George of Denmark, her husband.
The last name on the list is 'Hans in Kelder,' which literally means
'Jack in the Cellar,' and is supposed to have been suggested by the
humour of the King in allusion to the interesting situation of the
Princess Anne; and we can fancy the swarthy face of the 'Merry Monarch'
smiling in the frosty air as this congenial joke was perpetrated.
In the Luttrell collection of broadsides there is one with a large
woodcut representing the battle of Sedgemoor and other incidents of
Monmouth's rebellion. The letterpress is in wretched verse, and is
entitled, '_A Description of the late Rebellion in the West. A Heroic
Poem._' The unfortunate issue of Monmouth's rising excited the sympathy
of the common people, to whom he was endeared by his many amiable
qualities and his handsome person. Though this broadside was evidently
written in the interest of the Government it was likely to have a ready
sale, and it was sought to increase the interest by pictorial
representation. The engraving, which is on an unusually large scale, is
very rough, like all the woodcuts of the period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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