Political electricity, or, An historical & prophetical print in the year 1770 / Bute and Wilkes invent. ; Mercurius & Apelles fect.

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Political electricity, or, An historical & prophetical print in the year 1770 / Bute and Wilkes invent. ; Mercurius & Apelles fect.
etching and engraving
image: 583 x 402 mm; plate mark: 710 mm; sheet: 735 x 440 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2406
Published: 
[London?] : [publisher not identified], [1770]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Title from item.
"Publishd according to act of Parliament."
Second state, with the pseudonymous names of the printmakers changed from "Veridicus & Junius" to "Mercurius & Apelles", and numerous other alterations to the design. Cf. British Museum online catalog.
Three columns of "References" below title, explaining persons and objects numbered in the design: No. 1. Represents Ld B--e on [the] coast of France in [the] character of Doctor Franklin ...

Summary: 

Sheet composed of different, linked designs, numbered from 1 to 26, and showing a variety of scenes relating to the politics and government of England and how their actions at home and abroad may result in the loss of the American colonies; scene number 1 shows Lord Bute, at top right, in "ye Character of Doctor [Benjamin] Franklin", with electricity is generated by one of three of "ye Principal Nobles in France" who turns a handle on Bute's head; other scenes feature the figures of Princess Augusta, George III, Lord Grafton, Grenville, North, Edmund Burke, John Wilkes, Pitt, and Lord Holland; the scene numbered 24 depicts Boston, Massachusetts, as a European city and shows the industriousness of the Americans.

Century: 
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