Ecce homo versatilis! Alias Edmund the apostate
[London] : Publish'd as the Act directs March 7th 1791. by H D. Symonds Paternoster Row, [1791]
Issued as a frontispiece plate to: The wonderful flights of Edmund the rhapsodist, into the sublime and beautiful regions of fancy, fiction, extravagance, and absurdity ... / by a descendent of Momus. London : Printed for H.D. Symonds, 1791.
Engraved below the image: The Pyramids in the back Ground contain millions of slaughtered Victims to the divine Right of Kings, or the sanguinary Principles of the Priesthood of all Ages. The Characters are explained in the Pamphlet.
Library's copy trimmed within plate mark.
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Burke, with ass's ears, sits astride a broomstick, holding a wand in his right hand and is carried upwards on a column of cloud which rises from the ground. Behind him, under a large tree (left), are allegorical personages, the most prominent being Momus, holding his mask; Pegasus is on the extreme left. All watch Burke's ascent. In the foreground Charon sits in his ferry-boat. On the right Mercury stands holding out his caduceus. In the background, behind a river, four irregular pyramids recede in perspective; up the nearest a tiny figure (Alexander) wheels a body (Clytus) in a barrow. On the river is a boat containing minute naked figures wearing crowns. Cf. British Museum online catalog.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.