H.G. Bohn (1847 - 1851)
After the failure of McLean’s attempt to posthumously revive Gillray’s career, the copperplates carrying his designs were returned to Humphrey’s shop where they remained until the business was wound-up in 1835. The Humphreys family put most of the contents of the shop up for auction but the popularity of Georgian satire had reached such a nadir by the mid-1830s that the Gillray’s copperplates failed to meet their reserve price and were returned to the family, who eventually sold them at scrap value to the publishing house of H.G. Bohn. Bohn published all 610 designs in two massive volumes entitled The Works of James Gillray from the Original Plates between 1847 and 1851. In deference to the prudishness of Victorian Britain he also published a third volume, the so-called ‘Suppressed Plates’, that contained some of Gillray’s racier designs which Bohn made available for sale to male customers only.
The most noticeable feature of the Bohn editions is the presence of a number which was etched into the copperplate at the right hand corner of each of the images. Sometimes this will be within the image itself but in some examples it can be found between the border of the image and the platemark. If the print has been trimmed, or framed, then it is possible that this serial number may have been lost and unfortunately you also occasionally see examples where the number appears to have been deliberately abraded from the print in order to disguise the fact that it is a later copy. Bohn prints taken from the bound volumes will also have a second design printed on the reverse of the same piece of paper. However, Bohn also produced a number of single sheet Gillray designs which it appears were sold as separate items and so the absence of a second caricature on the verso of a print should not be taken as definitive proof that the item is not a Bohn edition. The colouring used in The Works of James Gillray... is also distinctive, being much brighter and richer in tone than the original Humphrey's colouring. The paper on which the Bohn designs were produced is also much thicker and heavier than that which would have been used in Gillray’s day.

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