"The Entertaining History of Little Jack" [School piece or Penmanship sheet]

John Bewick|Thomas Day|Laurie & Whittle

November 10, 1806 · Etching and engraving; late impression · Drawings and Prints

This printed sheet is decorated at the top and sides with images that illustrate Thomas Day's "The Entertaining History of Little Jack." A vignette along the bottom shows a boy running in a landscape towards a goat. "The Story of Little Jack" was first published in 1788 with illustrations by Bewick and belongs to a genre that focused on stories centered on orphans or foundlings. The work comes from a genre known as writing sheets, writing blanks, penmanship exercises, letter sheets or school pieces, published in Britain from the 1660s to 1860s and used by students to demonstrate their handwriting abilities. This example never used. While the publisher dated this print 1806, the paper is watermarked 1815, demonstrating that the printing plate was used over a long period.

Artist

John Bewick|Thomas Day|Laurie & Whittle

Date

November 10, 1806

Medium

Etching and engraving; late impression

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1964