Hannah Humphrey and the Distribution of Prints
Hannah Humphrey and the Distribution of Prints
The circulation of Gillray’s prints becomes crucial to the idea that the British public were aware of his motifs and visual attacks against political figures such as the Duke of Clarence and Fox. By 1789, Gillray almost exclusively worked with one publisher: Hannah Humphrey (1745-1818)[1]. Unlike other print sellers in London who sold cheap, jaunty caricatures aimed at an undemanding audience, Humphrey sold Gillray’s prints at a high rate. She marketed them towards a more sophisticated, educated, wealthy class [2]. By the end of his career, Gillray’s prints were in such high demand that even those who he brutally caricaturized such as the Prince of Wales, Fox and Whig politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan bought his prints from Humphrey’s shop [3].
The 1780s saw a shift in the sale of contemporary satirical prints. Art gallery-style print shops, such as that of Humphrey’s, began to cater to the upper class with the inclusion of lounges. To draw in cliental and gain a public awareness, galleries also started to hold exhibitions for the fashionable elite. Although the subject matter of the images primarily surrounded social and political life, the new deluxe print shops were mainly organized around the consumption of prints as aesthetic objects [4]
By the time Gillray became fully exclusive to Humphrey in 1791 his work had already achieved a sizeable following. Developing a cohesive style, Gillray attracted buyers who followed the artist’s production and began making collections of his prints [5]. Although sometimes pasted in albums, prints were primarily sold as single-sheet, unless otherwise requested by the buyer. Sold predominantly as individual entities, Gillray’s prints reached a wider ranger of upper class individuals, therefore linking viewers to his repeated visual motifs.
Gillray’s popularity with the British elite elevated Humphrey as the leading seller of caricature prints in the 1790s. As seen in Gillray’s Very Slippery-Weather, Humphrey hung prints in her window as advertisements and as entertainment. The print illustrates those of the upper class including naval and military officers, as well as two individuals of the lower class, signified by their simple attire and shaggy hair, all admiring Gillray’s works in the window [6].
The location of Humphrey’s print shop at 18 Old Bond Street supports the reality of Gillray’s depiction. Situated in the midst of posh private homes and proprietary subscription clubs, Humphrey’s shop was mere minutes from the Royal Academy of Arts, St. James’s Square, the Opera House in the Haymarket and the Shakespeare Gallery in Pall Mall. This location made Humphrey’s window exhibitions available to both the British elite who frequented the area and members of the lower class who passed by [7].
[1] Timothy Clayton, The English Print 1688-1802 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 216.
[2] At the time it was very uncommon for a female to have her own shop. Hannah Humphrey therefore often went by “Mrs.” instead of “Miss” to protect her reputation and cover the fact that she never married from becoming scandalous.
[3] Richard Godfrey, James Gillray: The Art of the Caricature (London: Tate Publishing, 2001), 17.
[4] Amelia Rauser, Caricature Unmasked: Irony, Authenticity, and Individualism in Eighteenth-Century English Prints (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2008), 97.
[5] Ibid, 97.
[6] The works are known to be Gillray’s as he actually published prints included in the window.
[7] 'General Introduction,' in Survey of London: Volumes 29 and 30, St James Westminster, Part 1, ed. F H W Sheppard (London: London County Council, 1960), 1-19, accessed February 21, 2015, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols29-30/pt1/pp1-19. (Link to Article)