The Business of Satirical Prints in Late-Georgian England by James Baker (review)

'There are now i believe as many booksellers as there are Butchers & as many Printshops as of any other trade. We remember when a Print shop was a rare bird in London.' So wrote William Blake in 1800, and the explosion of the trade in satirical prints in the late eighteenth century and into the early nineteenth is the subject of this thorough and illuminating, albeit in some aspects frustrating, study. James Baker focuses on the business processes and 'commercial exigencies' involved in the production of the stream of satirical prints that turned into a torrent at the turn of the century. While this approach may not be as radical as he suggests in his intro duction and conclusion, it is a welcome counterbalance to those studies which focus solely on the subject-matter and artistic attributes of the prints.

The book builds on Baker's 2011 thesis on Isaac Cruikshank, and, not surprisingly therefore, this artist is much to the fore. However, while 'Isaac Cruikshank's London was a visual city', the same description cannot unfortunately be applied to this book. Like some of the artist/engravers whom he covers, Baker has been somewhat let down by his publishers. Illustrations are in short supply—thirteen prints reproduced in 232 pages—which means that many of the works under discussion must be checked elsewhere. All of the reproductions are black and white, and in several instances the images have not been cropped properly. If any reader's eyes can make out all of the detail on the 'network graphs' in chapter 8, they are a great deal keener than those of this reviewer. Other volumes in the series, while not boasting especially beautiful cover design, do at least display something related to their subject matter. The cover of The Business of Satirical Prints has all the appeal of a school text book, which is somewhat mystifying given the possibilities at hand. Presumably financial limitations played their part—like Fores, Ackermann, and others, modern publishers are also part of 'vibrant commercial networks'—but in a small book retailing at almost £75, this is unsatisfactory.

This is a shame, because there is a great deal of very good material in Baker's study. From chapter 3 well into chapter 8 Baker gives a sound and clear survey of the business of producing and selling satirical prints. His summary of the techniques and technicalities involved in making prints is wide-ranging (based in part on practical experience of trying out the techniques himself), and he is thoughtful in interpreting individual prints, although there is not a great deal here which is significantly new. In many areas he is enlightening: the costs of the various materials required and the consequences for the trade in having to meet those (fluctuating) costs, often constraining the choices made by publishers whose goal was profit; diversification in the larger printshops; the relationships between the publishers and artist/engravers, and others in associated trades, and with imitators and plagiarists. He is extremely good on copperplates which proved faulty because of over-hasty or clumsy craftsmanship, or through wear, but which could still prove profitable when published with obvious corrections, recutting, colouring, etc. He deals interestingly with potential profits to be made from occasionally selling satirical designs to pottery manufacturers to be transferred onto plates and mugs and to Syntax figurines. His suggestions as to the nature and status of the audience for satirical prints and their geographical reach are, perhaps inevitably, somewhat more speculative.

Baker has concentrated his attention on the larger print publishers, such as Fores, Ackermann, Laurie & Whittle, and Hannah Humphrey, where scarcity of workshop and other records is slightly less of a hindrance. He has little to say on the scores of smaller printsellers who were making something of a living from offering a limited stock of prints in their...