The Clark acquired today’s item of the week in 1996, but it’s been sitting in our manuscript backlog since then.  Completely charming and pretty funny, this album of over 500 caricatures and drawings was executed in the late 18th century by an amateur artist probably from the Cheshire area.

Some of the drawings in this album are based on contemporary works by artists such as Thomas Rowlandson and John Collier, while other drawings are possibly originals.

In addition to caricatures, drawings (executed in both pen and ink and in pencil) include landscapes, city scenes, buildings, animals and decorative motifs.

Album of caricatures and drawings, MS.1996.002. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.