Antique 1844 Ten Prize Cartoons Westminster Hall Elephant Folio Lithographs Book For Sale

A particularly impressive & scarce large-format Victorian folio, published in London by Thomas McLean, Haymarket, in 1844, containing the celebrated Ten Prize Cartoons exhibited at Westminster Hall in 1843, edited by the artist & writer Frank Howard.

A fascinating publication directly connected with the great Victorian project to decorate the newly rebuilt Houses Of Parliament / Palace Of Westminster following the disastrous fire of 1834.

The Royal Commission for the encouragement of the Fine Arts, presided over by Prince Albert, organised a major competition at Westminster Hall in 1843 inviting British artists to submit monumental “cartoons” suitable for translation into frescoes & other forms of decoration for the new Palace of Westminster.

Following the exhibition, ten additional artists were each awarded the substantial sum of £100, and their successful compositions were subsequently reproduced in this remarkable publication.

The title page reads:

“The Ten Cartoons, Exhibited In Westminster Hall, 1843, To Which The Prize Of One Hundred Pounds Each Was Awarded. Edited By Frank Howard.”

Published for the proprietors by Thomas McLean, Haymarket, London, 1844.

The volume retains the impressive calligraphic dedication to:

His Royal Highness Prince Albert Of Saxe Coburg, President Of The Royal Commission For The Encouragement Of The Higher Classes Of The Fine Arts

dated 26 Haymarket, July 1st 1844.

Most importantly, the folio appears to retain all ten of the principal large lithographic Prize Cartoons, together with the title, introductory material & printed list of plates.

The ten designs represented are Una Coming To Seek The Assistance Of Gloriana by Frank Howard; Una & The Red Cross Knight Led By Mercy To The Hospital Of The Seven Virtues by E. V. Rippingille; The Death Of King Lear by F. R. Pickersgill; The Angel Raphael Discoursing With Adam by Sir William Ross R.A.; Man Beset By Contending Passions by Henry Howard R.A.; The Brothers Releasing The Lady From The Enchanted Chair by F. P. Stephanoff; The Brothers Driving Out Comus & His Rabble by J. G. Waller; St Augustine Preaching To The Saxons by William Cave Thomas; Alfred The Great In The Camp Of The Danes, A.D. 880 by Marshall Claxton; & The Plague Of London, A.D. 1349 by Edward Corbould.

The subjects encompass Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, King Alfred, St Augustine, the medieval Plague Of London & British historical painting, making the folio of considerable interest beyond purely print collecting.

Several of the lithographs retain their original individual publication lines for Thomas McLean, Haymarket, 1843, demonstrating that the designs were issued contemporaneously following the Westminster Hall exhibition before being brought together in this 1844 folio.

The Westminster Hall competitions occupy an important place in British art history. They were conceived to encourage a new national school of historical painting for the decoration of the Palace of Westminster and attracted many of the leading British artists of the period.

Interestingly, these Westminster exhibitions also played a part in the evolution of the modern meaning of the word “cartoon”. At the time, a cartoon referred to a full-scale preparatory design for a major painting or fresco; the enormous Westminster competition drawings famously prompted Punch magazine to adopt the term satirically for its humorous political illustrations.

Also loosely contained within the volume is an old handwritten sheet inscribed “Mad Farm – The Home Of The Thresher And His Bride – Presented With The Artist’s Compliments”, followed by an indistinct signature or initials. This is included exactly as found. No firm connection between this manuscript note & the artists represented in the folio has been established, and it is consequently offered simply as an interesting associated piece of period ephemera rather than as evidence of provenance.

Size: approximately 37cm Wide x 55cm High.

A genuinely imposing elephant-format folio, far larger & considerably more impressive in the flesh than the photographs perhaps suggest.

The original boards remain present with gilt title “The Ten Prize Cartoons” to the front.

Condition is very much commensurate with the considerable age, size & vulnerable nature of the publication. The binding & boards are heavily worn, rubbed, marked & stained, with wear and losses around the edges and corners. Internally there is general age toning, foxing, staining and marking, together with creasing, edge wear, marginal tears and some loose or partially detached leaves.

The large lithographic plates themselves show varying degrees of foxing, toning & marginal staining, although the principal printed images remain remarkably striking and readily appreciable.

The folio is being offered entirely untouched & exactly as found, without modern restoration or intervention.

Please study all photographs carefully as these form an important part of the description and provide an excellent indication of the overall condition.

Despite its obvious age-related wear, the survival of the original large-format publication together with its complete suite of ten prize-winning lithographs makes this a fascinating & highly decorative piece of early Victorian art history.

A superb opportunity for the collector of Victorian art, early lithography, Westminster / Houses Of Parliament history, Shakespeare, Milton, British historical painting or unusual large-format antiquarian books.

A Scarce & Impressive 1844 Survivor From One Of The Most Ambitious British Art Competitions Of The Victorian Age.

***An exceptionally scarce publication; no other complete copies are presently known as being offered for sale, and no sold examples have been traced***