Buy a Bill of the Play, Theater Drury Lane, Cries of London, 1804

An original antique hand colored copper engraving of a London street seller, lettered "BUY A BILL OF THE PLAY." below the image and "Theater Drury Lane" in script above it. A woman in a black bonnet, pink bodice, white kerchief and apron and a blue skirt holds out a printed playbill lettered "THEATRE ROYAL." and "HAMLET.", a shallow basket of oranges carried before her on a strap. She stands beside a tall column at the theater entrance, with a green paneled door, a fanlight and a lamp behind her.

The location "Theater Drury Lane" is engraved in script at the top of the plate and the cry "BUY A BILL OF THE PLAY." in open capitals at the bottom. Below the border, the lower left corner carries the artist credit "Craig del" (meaning Craig drew it), and the center carries the imprint "Published Augst. 25 1804 by Richard Phillips 71 St. Pauls Church Yard", dated August 25, 1804. No engraver is named. Playbills and oranges were sold to the audience outside the Theater Royal in Drury Lane.

Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis was published in London in 1804, printed for Richard Phillips of No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Alongside its views of public buildings it carried a series of plates of the street traders of London, each showing a seller with his or her wares against a recognizable London setting, named in script above the image, with the trader's cry engraved below. William Marshall Craig, credited on the plate as the draftsman, was a London painter in watercolors and miniatures and a drawing master. His designs for the series record the dress, tools and goods of the people who sold in the streets of Georgian London.

It pairs naturally with other plates from the series and would make a lively addition to a wall of London subjects.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.