At  the  Police  Court

Hogarth, William (1697 London 1764). The Industrious ‘Prentice Alderman of London, the Idle one brought before him & impeach’d by his Accomplice. At the police court of St. Albans Tom Idle, accused of murderous highway robbery, appears before his former comrade as weaver’s apprentices, today’s alderman who turns away visibly moved. King’s evidence is the accomplice swearing with the left hand his perjury while a participating prostitute slips a coin into the hands of the clerk. One of the constables with the weapons of the accused. Engraving by Thomas Cook (c. 1744 – London 1818). Inscribed: Design’d by W^m. Hogarth / Plate 10. / Engrav’d by T. Cook. / Published by T. Cook N^o. 11. Little Britain & G. G. & I. Robinson N^o. 25. Pater-noster Row July 1^st. 1795. 28.4 x 36.5 cm.

Industry & Idleness X. – Fine impression though time-marked. Otherwise – contrary to all later Hogarth editions – in the original size. – Cook “made a name for himself as Hogarth engraver, too” (Thieme-Becker).

“ Soon it will end! Tom Idle has murdered and one of his accomplices swears as witness of the crime, though with the left hand since the guy himself is not worth a penny and perhaps believes that this way he does not take a true oath. The syndic not becomes aware of the trick as he has to accept something at his back … also the poor mother is present and pours out her heart before a man who has no heart; before the constable. ‘Shut up and don’t disturb the laudable court!’ ”

(subtext of a lithograph).

The master’s famous, most popular suite, showing by example of two apprentices in a weaving mill as one of the main branches of industry in his days the chances of their life as well as the temptations detrimental to their career :

Calculated  for  the  use  &  Instruction  of  youth
w(h)erein  every  thing  necessary  to  be  known  was  to  be  made
as  intelligible  as  possible

(Hogarth in his Autobiographical Notes).

“ The scenes should be as easily intelligible as possible for which the engravings had not to be worked in all fineness. It was rather important to keep costs low so that even apprentices could buy these sheets. Hogarth designed a frame-like border around each picture – supposedly he assumed that the boys would pin up these engravings directly at the wall. In this border below of every scene he had added a characteristic verse from the Bible to the idle and (or) industrious apprentice … at top on the one hand a cat-o-’nine-tails, a pair of fetters, and a halter as emblems of the tragic end of the idle apprentice and on the other hand golden chain, sword and mace as hints to the career of the industrious one ”

(Bachofen-Moser, William Hogarth in the Art Gallery Zurich, 1983, p. 98).
Offer no. 7,372 / EUR  240. (c. US$ 311.) + shipping

– – – The same in Hogarth’s own etching in an impression from the plate reworked by the royal engraver James Heath (1757 London 1834, “earned applause early”, Nagler) about 1822 (“Even these impressions became relatively rare today though”, Art Gallery Esslingen 1970; and Meyers Konv.-Lex., 4^th ed., VIII [1888], 625: “A fine edition”). Inscribed: Design’d & Engraved by W^m. Hogarth. / Plate 10. / Publish’d according to Act of Parliament Sep^br. 30. 1747. 26.7 x 34.8 cm.

Illustration Hogarth Catalogue Zurich, 1983, 62. – On wide-margined buff paper.
Offer no. 7,709 / EUR  189. (c. US$ 245.) + shipping

– – – The same in Cook’s smaller repetition, but without verse and marginal emblems and with the series title as subtext. Inscribed: Pl. X. / Hogarth pinx^t. / T. Cook & Son sc. / Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, Nov^r. 1^st. 1808. Subject size 13 x 16.8 cm. – Trimmed within the wide white platemark.
Offer no. 8,888 / EUR  120. (c. US$ 155.) + shipping

– – – The same in engraving by Ernst Ludwig Riepenhausen (1765 Göttingen 1840, university engraver there). Inscribed: 36. / W. Hogarth inv & pinx. / Pl. 10. / R. d. fec. 22 x 29.5 cm. – Early impression. – Riepenhausen’s engravings after Hogarth (“very estimable”, Nagler) belong to his chief work and are partly even preferred to Hogarth’s own engravings.
Offer no. 7,373 / EUR  220. (c. US$ 285.) + shipping

– – – The same by Riepenhausen as before, but on slightly toned minor paper.
Offer no. 7,374 / EUR  194. (c. US$ 251.) + shipping

– – – The same by Riepenhausen as before, but on especially buff paper, supposedly about 1850.
Offer no. 7,375 / EUR  220. (c. US$ 285.) + shipping

– – – The same in lithography by C. F. Heintz. (1833/36.) Inscribed: 40. / Lith. v. C. F. Heintz. 1833. 23.2 x 25.5 cm. – On slightly toned paper. – Title – Der fleissige Lehrbursche als Aldermann in London und der Faule vor ihm ist des Mordes überwiesen – and extensive subtext à la Lichtenberg in German.
Offer no. 7,376 / EUR  146. (c. US$ 189.) + shipping

Further single sujets of the set available in several qualities.

“ Thank you Mr. Niemeyer – I will take it! … It should look very nice in my new office. Best regards ”

(Mr. J. R. L., January 6, 2006)