"Folly". Rare John Collier, Timothy Bobbin caricature engraving, c1810.

by John Collier (Timothy Bobbin)

Tim Bobbin caricature antique print. Military gentleman(?), young lady, unhappy father(?). Rare original hand-coloured copperplate engraving by John Collier (pseudonym, Timothy Bobbin) for a series of caricatures entitled The Passions, Humorously Delineated, published in London in 1810 by Bond Street print publisher, Edward Orme. 

Bobbin developed his trade as a painter, producing inn signs, painted panels, - and popular grotesque caricatures that were distributed widely - even to the American colonies via a Liverpool merchant. Collier promoted and distributed his own work, throughout northern England, collecting and delivering orders and commissions for books and pictures. Collier's collection of caricatures, Human Passions Delineated (in which he described himself as the 'Lancashire Hogarth') was published in 1773 and acted as his catalogue. 

Edward Orme republished Collier's caricatures in London in 1810 as Human Passions. The Victorian antiquary W.E. Axon described Collier's caricatures as "execrable... gross and cruel", while the Dictionary of National Biography declared them "grotesque" and "absolutely devoid of artistic merit". As with all satirical works, they were meant to be entertaining and have always been appreciated.

There is a little soiling at the base. Page: 210 x 267mm (8.1/4 x 10.1/2 inches). To intaglio impression: 163 x 213mm (6.3/8 x 8.3/8 inches).