Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878 (Etcher); John Le Petit (1798 - 1820), publisher — Specimens of Waltzing . Original Etching

Dublin, 20 Capel Street : Le Petit, circa 1817. Handcolored etching. 23.5 x 34cm. on an old support sheet. Piece missing in lower right corner. This edition not cited by the B.M. or NYPL..Douglas, no. 1179 and Cohn no. 1997 for the Humphrey edition... Joseph Le Petit (fl. 1798-1820) Le Petit was a Dublin publisher of caricatures, of whom there is little biographical information of, other than where he operated from and that he had a business association with another Dublin publisher J. Sidebotham. Both their names and the of 20 Capel Street address appears on a number of prints published between 1815 and 1820. Trading Addresses: (1798-1799) 22 Suffolk Street, Middlesex Hospital, London (1800-1820?) 20 Capel Street, Dublin (1821?- ?) ... One of a pair, with the same signatures and imprint, see No. 12928. Four grotesque couples waltz: three hideous women face their partners, putting their hands on their shoulders. The men grasp the women by shoulders, waist, or hips. A fourth couple dance side by side, the free arm extended. One man wears uniform with long spurs. The women's coiffure is a sugar-loaf erection variously decorated. The room is bare except for festooned window-curtain and two pictures: (1) two ragged fiddlers with a boy who begs; (2) dogs dancing. 4 June 1817... Provenance : From the collection of Frederic Gale Ruffner, Jr. the founder of Gale Research, Detroit. .