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SPY PRINTS

Vanity Fair was a weekly magazine, full of news and gossip, satire and gentle ridicule. It was published between 1869 and 1914. Each issue contained a coloured lithograph which was a caricature of a popular figure of the time, ranging in importance from Royalty to a less familiar backbench MP who happened to have hit the headlines.

These portraits were humorous, stylised, and immediately recognisable, even though they were drawn by a variety of artists over the years. The first was Carlo Pelligrini, an Italian artist who hid behind the signature “Ape”. The best known, and most prolific, was Leslie Ward who used the nom de crayon “Spy”. Many other artists contributed, always anonymously, using signatures such as "QUIZ", "NEMO", "WH", "LIB", "ATN", "STUFF"" and so on, with several caricatures being unsigned: the generic name of "Spy prints" is used for all of them, however. Over 2400 were published in all.

These caricature portraits traditionally had no names just subscripts, which usually added to the slightly malicious fun, being informative to those in the know. They might use a nickname (“Fred” for Captain Frederick Burnaby), or make reference to an achievement (“Flight” for Mr Gustav Hamel), or make political comment (“A living monument of English injustice” for The Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Behar & Orissa), or be informative (“The only man who is ever known to make Mr Gladstone smile” for Mr John Locke, MP) or make a contemporary reference which is now not understood (“old wares” for the Marquis of Clanricarde, Hubert George DeBurgh Canning) Most came with biography appended, signed by “Jehu Junior” in the 1870s, later unattributed - which gave sketchy details of the subject’s age, status and achievements coupled with veiled allusions for the cognoscenti.

These caricatures have been categorised by subject, including Doctors and Scientists, Ambassadors to England, Americans, Bankers and Financiers, Literary figures, Engineers, Newspapermen, Politicians, Sportsmen and Theatrical figures – and many, many more.

The most highly-prized are the Legal figures of the era, and especially the Red Robed Judges. Spy prints vary in price and collectability. You may wish to own one to decorate your Chambers or Office, to celebrate a revered hero, or because it is of your great grandfather….

If you keep your eyes open and check the background during films and TV plays, you will be able to spot many Spy prints……….