Cunicularii, or, The wise men of Godliman in consultation [print].

Accession number: 
PML 9313.4
Author: 
Hogarth, William, 1697-1764.
Published: 
[London : s.n., 1726]
Description: 
1 print : etching and engraving ; image: 160 x 257 mm; plate mark: 190 x 250 mm; sheet: 201 x 290 mm
Credit: 
Purchased in the Toovey collection, 1899.
Notes: 

Caption title.
Library's copy has been folded and inserted into a bound volume (PML 9313) of collected materials pertaining to the notorious case of "rabbit woman" Mary Toft of Godalming; the contents dated 1726-ca. 1819, and including: 11 printed tracts and specimens of satirical verse and prose, 8 prints, 1 pen and ink portrait of Mary Toft by G.P. Harding, and an original manuscript transcription of the "Predictions of William Whiston". All individual items forming the volume have been cataloged separately.

Variant Title: 

Wise men of Godliman in consultation

Provenance: 
From the libraries of George Nassau (sale 16 Feb. 1824); and Thomas Jolley (sale 15 June 1852).
Summary: 

Print shows the interior of a bedroom where (G) Mary Toft lies on a curtained bed apparently in the throes of labour. She is attended by (E) her husband Joshua Toft and (F) his sister Margaret, acting as nurse. (D) Dr John Howard is receiving a dead rabbit from a butcher at the door. There are three other men in the room: (A) Nathaniel St André, (C) John Maubray or Cyriacus Ahlers, and (B) a third (Sir John Manningham or Samuel Molyneux) whose arm is thrust beneath Mary's skirts. Rabbits scamper across the floor; others lie dead; to the right is a chamber pot.

Classification: 
Department: