Image not available
Isaac Cruikshank
1756?-1811?
The flying bishop, or, Tale of a pope
Published
London : Printed and Sold by J. Bailey, 116, Chancery-Lane, [between 1802 and 1810]
illustration (hand colored etching)
38 x 22 cm
Peel 1984
Notes
Broadside verse with hand-colored etched illustration.
Lettered below text "Printed and Sold by J. Bailey, 116, Chancery-Lane. Price 6d."
Image signed "I. Cruikshank del."
Verse begins "It was the Bishop Athendius who once at Eventide" and ends "Aye, that is the mystery of this wonderful History, I wish that I could tell."
Reprint (with a few variations in spelling and wording) of a poem by Robert Southey published in 1802 under the title "A True Ballad of St. Antidius, the Pope, and the Devil."
Lettered below text "Printed and Sold by J. Bailey, 116, Chancery-Lane. Price 6d."
Image signed "I. Cruikshank del."
Verse begins "It was the Bishop Athendius who once at Eventide" and ends "Aye, that is the mystery of this wonderful History, I wish that I could tell."
Reprint (with a few variations in spelling and wording) of a poem by Robert Southey published in 1802 under the title "A True Ballad of St. Antidius, the Pope, and the Devil."
Provenance
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Summary
Bishop Athendius reading a pamphlet while riding on the back of the Devil on his way to Rome, holding him by the horns, with his cross and beads flying behind him. The Devil holds a book in his hands, singes his beard on a comet, runs amuck of a shooting star and collides with a witch, knocking her off her broomstick.
Associated names
Baily, James, active 1780-1815, publisher, bookseller.
Southey, Robert, 1774-1843. True Ballad of St. Antidius, the Pope, and the Devil.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Southey, Robert, 1774-1843. True Ballad of St. Antidius, the Pope, and the Devil.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Bibliography
Olson, Robert J.M. and Pasachoff, Jay M. "Fire in the sky: comets and meteors, the decisive centuries, in British art and science." Cambridge, England : Cambridge University Press, 1998, page 134.
Classification
Department
Catalog link