TWELVE MONTHS REPRESENTED BY LILLIPUTIAN FIGURES - JANUARY c.1740 ETCHING

Original circa 1740 5 5/8 inch x 10 1/4 inch Etching titled TWELVE MONTHS REPRESENTED BY LILLIPUTIAN FIGURES - JANUARY.

Sr Jeffrey Jumble and my Lady Grave-airs: two callot figures, a man and a woman, show whole-length standing, walking towards the left, the woman in profile and holding a muff; in ornamental frame with a callot figure on a chair below, cut wood around him, an axe to the right, a shovel and scythe on the left.

Sr. Jeffrey Jumble and my Lady Grave-airs, Expos’d to chilling Frost and Snow; You find that neither Furr nor Muff, Have power to keep us warm enough; Then prithee lets go pig together, And bid defiance to the Weather

Printed and sold by John Bowles (1701? - 1779). Print publisher, younger son of Thomas Bowles I, and brother of Thomas Bowles II. While Thomas II took on the family business, John set up his separate print shop c.1723 at Mercers' Hall, Cheapside, London. By 1733 was trading at the sign of the Black Horse, Cornhill. John's career can be followed through eight catalogues that he published between 1728 and 1768. The last is no less than 167 pages long.
In 1752 or 1753 his son Carington Bowles became a partner and for about ten years until 1764 they traded as John Bowles & Son. Carington then left to take on the business of Thomas Bowles II, his uncle, leaving John to continue the existing business, dropping the '& Son'. John Bowles died a rich man in 1779 and his remaining stock was bought by Robert Wilkinson.

The etching is in very good condition and laid to album sheet.