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Negligence, poverty and death in London

Hogarth claimed that these prints were 'calculated to reform some reigning Vices peculiar to the lower Class of People.' They were published in support of a campaign directed against gin drinking among London's poor. Consumption of cheap spirits by the poor had soared in the early eighteenth century, with dire social consequences. The campaign was led by Hogarth's friend, the novelist Henry Fielding (1707-54), who was chief magistrate for Westminster from 1749 to 1754. It was successful: an act against gin was passed later in 1751. This prevented retail sale of gin by the shops that sold normal household necessities, and was effective in curbing the evils of spirit drinking.

Beer Street celebrates the virtues of the mildly intoxicating traditional national drink. Beer inspires artists and refreshes tradesmen and labourers. It can be drunk safely on rooftops. The newfangled foreign spirit gin, however, inspires violence and careless inebriation. A gin-sodden mother is oblivious to her child's fall. Addiction to spirits leads to negligence, poverty and death.

The verses were written by Hogarth's friend James Towneley to make plain the meaning of the images. The prints were too expensive for the urban poor, but would have been within the means of the middle-class electorate. The horrors of Gin Lane provided imagery for propaganda against alcohol for another hundred years.

References:

British Museum

R. Paulson, Hogarths graphic works, 3rd edition (London, The Print Room, 1989)

D. Bindman, Hogarth and his times: serious, exh. cat. (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)

M. Hallett, The spectacle of difference: g (New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1999)

R. Paulson, Hogarth, vol 2 (Cambridge, Lutterworth, 1991-93)

Beer Street by William Hogarth

(click thumbnail to enlarge, Darvill's digital watermark does not appear on the actual engraving)

  

Gin Lane by William Hogarth

(click thumbnail to enlarge, Darvill's digital watermark does not appear on the actual engraving)
     

Beer Street

Original copperplate engraving/etching
(Heath edition, 1822)

Sheet size: approximately 25¼ x 19¼ inches, thick woven paper.
(approx. 64cm x 48cm)

Condition: Excellent, with only a few unobtrusive fox marks in upper margin.

AVAILABLE AS A SET ONLY, SEE BELOW

 

Gin Lane

Original copperplate engraving/etching
(Heath edition, 1822)

Sheet size: approximately 25¼ x 19¼ inches, thick woven paper.
(approx. 64cm x 48cm)

Condition: Excellent, with only a few unobtrusive fox marks in upper margin.

AVAILABLE AS A SET ONLY, SEE BELOW

Beer Street and Gin Lane

by William Hogarth

Original Copperplate Engravings and Etchings from:
The Works of William Hogarth from the Original Plates Restored by James Heath, Esq., R.A.; With the Addition of Many Subjects Not Before Collected: To Which is Prefixed, a Biographical Essay on the Genius and Productions of Hogarth, and Explanations on the Subjects of the Plates by John Nichols, Esq., F.S.A.

London. Printed for Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, Paternoster Row
by Nichols and Son, Parliament Street
1822

Sheet size: approximately 25¼ x 19¼ inches, thick woven paper.
(approx. 64cm x 48cm)

Beer Street by William Hogarth

(click thumbnail to enlarge, Darvill's digital watermark does not appear on the actual engraving)

  

Gin Lane by William Hogarth

(click thumbnail to enlarge, Darvill's digital watermark does not appear on the actual engraving)
     

Beer Street

Original copperplate engraving/etching
(Heath edition, 1822)

Sheet size: approximately 25¼ x 19¼ inches, thick woven paper.
(approx. 64cm x 48cm)

Condition: excellent, aside from 2 faint fox marks in upper margin and a slight printer's finger smudge in the outer right margin—well outside the image area.

AVAILABLE AS A SET ONLY, SEE BELOW

 

Gin Lane

Original copperplate engraving/etching
(Heath edition, 1822)

Sheet size: approximately 25¼ x 19¼ inches, thick woven paper.
(approx. 64cm x 48cm)

Condition: excellent, very light handling smudges in extreme lower margin, slight plate rub outside of upper left plate impression.

AVAILABLE AS A SET ONLY, SEE BELOW

Beer Street and Gin Lane

by William Hogarth

Original Copperplate Engravings and Etchings from:
The Works of William Hogarth from the Original Plates Restored by James Heath, Esq., R.A.; With the Addition of Many Subjects Not Before Collected: To Which is Prefixed, a Biographical Essay on the Genius and Productions of Hogarth, and Explanations on the Subjects of the Plates by John Nichols, Esq., F.S.A.

London. Printed for Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, Paternoster Row
by Nichols and Son, Parliament Street
1822

Sheet size: approximately 25¼ x 19¼ inches, thick woven paper.
(approx. 64cm x 48cm)

[Interesting side note: this set comes from the collection of Joseph Cunard (1799-1865), brother of Samuel Cunard — founder of the White Star Line.]

     
Beer Street
(click thumbnail to enlarge)
 

(click thumbnail to enlarge)
     

Beer Street

Original copperplate engraving
(Heath edition, 1822)

Sheet size: approx. 19 x 25 inches

Condition: Very good to excellent, a nice strong impression, with minor foxing confined to margins and slight edgewear on extreme bottom edge.

  

Gin Lane

Original copperplate engraving
(Heath edition, 1822)

Sheet size: approx. 19 x 25 inches

Condition: Very good to excellent, a nice strong impression, with minor foxing confined to margins and slight edgewear on extreme bottom edge.

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