Buy A Bonnet Box
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Buy A Bonnet Box” now? Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not on view at present. Checked September 25, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
This watercolour shows a man selling band-boxes outside a Bond Street bookshop. It is one of 31 similar works which William Marshall Craig (c.1750-c.1828) produced to illustrate Modern London, a guide book published by Richard Phillips in 1804. The V&A already possesses 10 watercolours from the series.
The bookshop shown in this watercolour was owned by Benjamin Tabart (1767/8-1833), who also ran his specialist children's publishing company, The Juvenile & School Library, from the premises. As fellow publishers and possibly former business partners, Tabart and Richard Phillips were closely connected: advertising, selling and even reprinting one another's books. That Craig was instructed to illustrate Tabart's shop was evidently a friendly gesture on Phillips' part; probably he hoped to offer his colleague a bit of free publicity.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- E.857-2000
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
