THE ENGRAVED RECORD OF THE JACOBITE MOVEMENT
Author: Richard Sharp. Published by Scholar Press 1996
A detailed description of 757 contemporary engraved images constitutes the core of this generously illustrated catalogue compiled by Richard Sharp, a Sackler Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. In two interpretative essays he discusses how patterns of publishing activity coincide with political and military crises, indicating the importance of the prints as propaganda. The comprehensive nature of the engraved record makes this book of interest to political and social historians, as well as those concerned with the prints' aesthetic qualities.
The book illustrates how Jacobite loyalty and the continuing importance of the dynastic question remained very much alive in British politics for more than sixty years after the deposition of James II. During this time, material artefacts played an important part in such political discourse. The function of drinking glasses and medals as stimulants of Jacobite loyalty has been well surveyed. In comparison, Jacobite prints have, until now, received little attention, despite the existence of some 200 portraits of the exiled Stuarts and over 450 images of 130 individuals associated with the Cause. The documentation of these prints has not been easy due to the fact that, at the time of their publication, Jacobite sympathy was officially regarded as treasonable, and possession of such images could result in prosecution. Consequently, many of these images were published abroad, without identification, or trimmed of such incriminating detail by their British owners. In such circumstances it is remarkable that some prints continued to be engraved, as well as distributed, in Britain for several generations after the deposition of James II in 1688-9. The long publishing history of other plates, showing that demand for certain images continued over several decades, is also an illuminating index of the enduring loyalties evoked by the Jacobite Cause.
The Engraved Record of the Jacobite Movement was published to mark the 250th anniversary of the last Jacobite rising, and accompanied 'Look, Love and Follow', an exhibition of prints and medals of the Jacobite Cause selected by Richard Sharp and presented by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery that year. In charting the history of the movement through these numerous fine engravings, this high quality publication re-enforces the revival of the serious interest in Jacobitism that has emerged in recent times.
Hard Back; 227 pages; Detailed descriptions of 757 contemporary images with short accompanying biographies; 52 full page illustrations and 41 smaller images. ISBN 1 85928 297 0
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