| Browse this collection | This entry describes an individual archive record or file. Click here to browse the full catalogue for this collection |
| Archive Reference / Library Class No. | D5459/3/38 |
| Former Reference | D5459/3/112 |
| Title | Gipsies shewing a Prize Cat |
| Date | [c. 1800-1820] |
| Description | Two gipsies show a couple a giant cat. On the left stands a gipsy smoking a pipe. To the right of the cat is another, pointing to the cat with a stick, He announces:
"Ladies and gentlemen, please to observe - The King of the Gipsies, having taken it into his Royal consideration the improvement of the race of Cats (being considered as a great dainty amongst his numerous and Loyal Subjects) He and eleven more of his Courtiers formed themselves into a Caticultural Society for that purpose. This beautiful animal, Ladies and Gentlemen is the finest produced this season - it was entirely fed on Rat Cakes and is the sole property of Mother Hubbard, for which she received the reward of the Society. Viz. Two fat capons and a Sack of Wheat, Stolen from Farmer Wilkinsons Barn."
The anxious-looking woman remarks:
"How grim he looks about the eyes", and her husband, a fat 'cit', adds: "It is certainly too fat to be wholesome."
In the background a gipsy woman sits on the floor, next to a pot hanging over a fire.
Available on CD 165. |
| Level | Item |
| Repository | Derbyshire Record Office |
| Artist | Woodward, George Murgatroyd (?1765-1809) |
| Engraver: Roberts |
| Archive Creator | George Murgatroyd Woodward (1765-1809), artist and writer |
| Further Information | Woodward Delin : Etch'd by Roberts
London Pubd by P Roberts 28 Middle Row Holborn
Text reads:
'Respectfully dedicated to the Caticultural Society' |
| Physical Description | Hand-coloured print. Size 395 x 280 mm. |
| Copies | A digital copy can also be viewed on the public computers at the record office. |
| Image | 
|