Publisher/Manufacturer: John Sharpe, London 1828 Engraving in black on cream wove paper mounted on white card
152 x 229 mm. Gift: John Deffett Francis, Swansea Public Library, Fine Art Department 1894
Engraved after Landseer's painting 'The Travelled Monkey' 1827, in the City of London Corporation collection. This print was listed in a letter from John Deffett Francis to E.P. Jones Esq. MA BD dated September 25th 1894. Deffett Francis comments "With regard to No 2 The Travelled Monkey - I hold it to be the finest example of Bookplate engraving in existence - endeared to us moreover from the fact that he was (BPG) [Benjamin Phelps Gibbon] the son of the Vicar of Penally (a Mile & 1/2 from Tenby) and born consequently a WELSHMAN"
Five monkeys surround a humanised, upright monkey wearing eighteenth century costume. The latter consists of an elegant jacket, waistcoat, scarf, bow-tie, hat, black shoes and trousers. The monkey holds a staff, has decorative moles on it's face, wears a ring on the left hand and a miniature female portrait hangs from it's waistcoat. The monkey on the far right snorts snuff from a snuff box on the ground. In the background is a landscape with hills, trees, town, water and boats. Detailed engraving for bookplate?
