Details
Contributor Isaacs, W.H., publisher.
Title Life in New York. "Blakey I say, can't you by the powers of your stame engine..?" [graphic] / C. Ingrey, lithog., 310 Strand.
Publisher London: Pub. by W.H. Isaacs, Charles St., Soho Sq
Publisher ENG. London. 1831
Date [ca. 1831]
Physical Description 1 print: hand-colored lithograph; sheet 26 x 31 cm (10 x 12 in.)
Description Racist caricature depicting a conversation between a middle-class African American merchant and a working-class Irish man. Depicts the well-dressed man "merchant" of a "Patent Steam" laundry and his well-dressed woman companion being approached by a white Irish man outside the doorway to his “Patent Steam Scouring Establishment. Clothes of all kinds, etc.” He wears a top hat, green waistcoat, a white ruffled shirt and stiff collar, white pants, and black shoes. He holds a walking stick. His companion wears a yellow, wide-brimmed hat adorned with feathers and ribbons, a blue and yellow, long-sleeved dress with lace details, white stockings and slipper shoes. She holds up a monocle toward the Irish man who is in bare feet and attired in worn and torn clothing. He holds a stained and patched waistcoat. The Irish man asks the merchant to "shift" his coat for a new one, as by the appearance of the merchant's coat, he is just the man for whom he has been looking since leaving "Kilarney." The merchant and his companion are "salted" by the notion that they are of the same nature as the "ruffian" and will "larn" him better by telling him to "ply to the office." The African American figures are portrayed with oversized features and their skin tone is depicted in black hand coloring.
Notes Title from item.
Date inferred from content and name of publisher.
Contains several lines of dialogue in dialect and the vernacular below the image: What you mean sir! I’m a merchant, I larn you better! cant you rid dat dere Sign, ply to the Office./Aint it too gusting for a lady of quality to be salted so in Street by Ruffians./Blakey I say! Can’t you by the powers of your Stame Engine Shift me this coat for a new one! I trust by the looks of yours youre the very man I have been looking for since I left Kilarney.
Inscribed: Pl. 2.
Charles Ingrey was a premier London lithographic printer of the 1830s.
LCP AR [Annual Report] 1972 p. 60.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
RVCDC
Description revised 2022.
Access points revised 2022.
Purchase 1972.
Subject African Americans -- Caricatures and cartoons -- New York (State) -- New York.
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons -- New York (State) -- New York.
African American women -- Caricatures and cartoons -- New York (State) -- New York.
African Americans -- Clothing & dress -- New York (State) -- New York.
African American men -- Clothing & dress -- New York (State) -- New York.
African American women -- Clothing & dress -- New York (State) -- New York.
African Americans -- Social conditions.
Classism.
Cleaning establishments -- New York (State) -- New York.
Irish Americans -- Caricatures and cartoons -- New York (State) -- New York.
Irish Americans -- Clothing & dress -- New York (State) -- New York.
Men -- Clothing & dress -- New York (State) -- New York.
Middle class -- Clothing & dress -- New York (State) -- New York.
Race Relations -- New York (State) -- New York.
Relations between the sexes -- New York (State) -- New York.
Racism in popular culture.
Social classes -- New York (State) -- New York.
Genre Caricatures -- 1830-1840.
Lithographs -- Color -- 1830-1840.
Printer Isaacs, W.H., publisher.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Life in New York (London Set) [8025.F.2]
Accession number 8025.F.2