Vanity Fair Spy Cartoons

We have a large stock of original antique Vanity Fair "Spy" cartoons & caricatures by artists including "Spy" (Leslie Ward), and "Ape" (Carlo Pellegrini). Vanity Fair was a weekly magazine published in London, founded & edited by Thomas Gibson Bowles. His aim was to expose to contemporary vanities of Victorian society. From 1868 to 1914, full page colour lithographs appeared in most weekly issues, frequently lampooning or lauding their subjects which included artists, athletes, royalty, politicians, scientists, authors, actors, sportsmen, lawyers, diplomats, soldiers, clergy, scholars & other celebrities of the day - mostly British, but also many other internationally significant personalities. Over 2,300 of these colour cartoons were printed, and they are considered the chief cultural legacy of the magazine, forming a pictorial record of many of the most significant public figures of the period. They are renowned throughout the world and highly collectible and recognisable. Famous artists contributed to Vanity Fair, typically under pen names. The best remembered today is Leslie Ward (1851-1922), who signed his works as "Spy", and whose caricatures account for well over half of those featured in Vanity Fair. So famous have these fabulous prints become, Vanity Fair caricatures today often are referred to simply as "Spy Cartoons". 'Spy', his nom de crayon, referred to his frequently used method of observing his victims secretly or from a distance for example at the racecourse, in the law courts, in church, in the university lecture theatre, or in the lobby of the Houses of Parliament. Whether drawn by Ward himself or another of the Vanity Fair artists, including Carlo Pellegrini, aka 'Singe' and 'Ape' (whose work is regarded by many as technically and artistically superior), Guth, Lib, "T" et al, the caricatures from this exceptional and unique publication have become prized collectibles. They epitomise Victorian society during the heyday of the British Empire.

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Vanity Fair Spy Cartoons

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON William Torrens McCullagh Torrens 'Finsbury' 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Evelyn Ashley 'Palmerston's Secretary' Politicians 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Henry Reginald Corbet 'Born in the Scarlet' Hunter 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON The Earl of Stair KT 'White Dal' Scotland 1883 print

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON The Earl of Mountcashell 'Ninety-one' Ireland 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Charles Kincaid-Lennox 'Charlie' Hereford 1883 print

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON General George Keppel, Earl of Albemarle 'Waterloo' 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Sir Edmund Lechmere 'St John of Jerusalem' Banking 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON The Earl of Rocksavage. Cheshire 1883 old print

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON William Hillier Earl Onslow 'a Parliamentary Title' 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON John Hinde Palmer QC 'Lincoln' Lincs 1883 old print

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Thomas Thornhill 'Tom' Norfolk. By VER 1883 old print

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Julian Pauncefote 'The Foreign Office' Hong Kong 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Lt-Col Ralph Vivian 'Ralph' Cornwall. By T 1883 print

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON William Thackeray Marriot QC 'Brighton' Law. T 1883

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON John Roberts Jr 'The champion Roberts' Billiards 1885

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON William Edward Baxter 'Montrose' Scotland 1885 print

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Sir James F Stephen 'The Criminal Code' Judges 1885

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Edward Sullivan 'Common-sense in politics' Ireland 1885

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Victoria Adelaide Maria Louisa 'The Princess Royal' 1884

VANITY FAIR SPY CARTOON Mr John Coupland 'the Quorn' Fox hunter. By Ape 1884

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