Location: Special Collections
We have the original book with etched title page and 24 etched plates of anthropomorphic monkeys.
Monkeyana is a satirical masterpiece by Thomas Landseer, the printmaker brother of the famed animal portraitist Edwin Landseer. Each of the etchings features misbehaving monkeys dressed in human clothes.
Thomas Landseer was "one of the most gifted and innovative engravers of his generation, being particularly adept in the use of textural etching. Much of his career was taken up with reproducing the works of his brother, Edwin...he subsequently made prints after all of his brother's most famous works...In all, he made more than 125 engravings after his brother's paintings. (Oxford Grove Dictionary of Art).
Interesting article: Evolving images of Darwinism from the Wellcome Library, London.
What wanton tricks sly Cupid plays,
When’eer the rogues let loose!
A God he’s turn’d into a swan
And man into a goose!
From: The Brawl about the Fox
The lines on the bottom read: “Faithful to the track. th’unerring hounds. With peals of echoing vengeance close pursue. Thou villain there Expect thy fate deserved!”
In the brawl about the fox the two huntsmen attack each other with horse whip and fists in a quarrel over the dead fox also claimed by the two hounds – though they in faithful community. Inscribed with the Somervile verse.
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