Sir Leslie Ward Wall Decorations

[English Gentlemen], from Vanity Fair twelve chromolithographs, on wove papers. Printed by Vincent Brooks Day & Son., with various dates from 1875 to 1897. Eight are by Spy, two are by Ape, one by "T" and one by Lib. Professionally framed with black and gilt frames and beige silk mats, with margins, apparently in excellent condition, not examined out of the frames. Titles comprise: "Accrington", June 11, 1892, "Newcastle Upon Tyne" July 18, 1893, "A New Peer", October 5, 1878, "South Bucks", June 4, 1896, "South Kensington", September 2, 1897, "Lord Salisbury's Manners", July 13, 1893, "The Blister", August 4, 1888, "A Postmaster General", April 30, 1892, "Sir James Miller", September 6, 1890, "Sol", October 28, 1897, "A Young Man" September 11, 1875, and "A Naturalist", September 9, 1882. Vanity Fair was a weekly magazine published in London, founded & edited by Thomas Gibson Bowles. His aim was to expose to contemporary vanities of Victorian society. From 1868 to 1914, full page colour lithographs appeared in most weekly issues, frequently lampooning or lauding their subjects which included artists, athletes, royalty, politicians, scientists, authors, actors, sportsmen, lawyers, diplomats, soldiers, clergy, scholars and other celebrities of the day - mostly British, but also many other internationally significant personalities. Over 2,300 of these colour cartoons were printed, and they are considered the chief cultural legacy of the magazine, forming a pictorial record of many of the most significant public figures of the period. They are renowned throughout the world and highly collectible and recognisable. Famous artists contributed to Vanity Fair, typically under pen names. The best remembered today is Leslie Ward (1851-1922), who signed his works as "Spy", and whose caricatures account for well over half of those featured in Vanity Fair. So famous have these fabulous prints become, Vanity Fair caricatures today often are referred to simply as "Spy Cartoons...

A set of three framed Vanity Fair prints by Sir Leslie Ward, signed "SPY" There is one pair measuring 17 high, 13 wide, framed and the center one is...