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Title: Life in New York
Description: Collection of social caricatures lampooning the pretensions of early 19th century middle-class African American New Yorkers. Influenced by an increased fascination with American culture and a growing racism pending the abolition of slavery in England, the black characters are depicted in outlandish dress with exaggerated manners, and speaking in patois and malapropisms in an inept attempt to mimic white high society. The caricatures focus on courtship and the merchant of a steam press laundry., English reprint of the Anthony Imbert series "Life in New York" originally published around 1830. Although the American series consisted of at least eight prints, the number of prints included in the London series is unknown. LCP holds two of the series. The English prints were published in London in the early 1830s by W.H. Isaacs, H. Isaacs, and G.S. Tregear., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 93-97. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., 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.
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in New York (London Set)

Title: Life in New York. "Blakey I say, can't you by the powers of your stame engine..?"
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., 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.
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in New York (London Set) [8025.F.2]

Title: Life in New York. "Blakey I say, can't you by the powers of your stame engine..?"
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., 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.
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in New York (London Set) [8025.F.2]

Title: Virginia stock
Description: Racist, allegorical, satiric print showing a line of enslaved black women and girls, shackled to each other by their wrists, and standing side by side in a tropical setting. The female figures are depicted with exaggerated facial features and short wavy hair. They wear simple pale-colored dresses that fall to their knees, are cinched at the waist, and have long sleeves. The figures look to the distance, at each other, and toward the viewer. Some stand with their feet pigeon-toed or pointed out. Some of the women wear earrings and one of the girls is portrayed with her eyes looking straight up. Coconut trees and greenery are visible in the background., Gabriel Shire Tregear (1801/2-1841) was a British colorist turned print publisher who specialized in series of comic and sporting prints, including "Tregear's Black Jokes" and "Flowers of Ugliness.", RVCDC, Description reviewed 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Date: 1836
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Allegories - Flowers [P.2016.45.3]

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