1832 Grant Satirical Broadside Criticizing the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

Snarky Takedown of the SDUK.

This is a rare 1832 C. J. Grant broadsheet criticizing the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK), a major publisher of periodicals, reference works, maps, and atlases aimed at the masses. Deeming himself a spokesman for the working class, Grant's derision seems to be born out of a sense of the SDUK as phonies.

A Closer Look

The sheet consists of a trumpeter - playing a comically small trumpet - tooting and hawking SDUK publications, the Penny Magazine and the Penny Cyclopedia. At the same time, he proclaims that 'All works not issued by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge are Illegal.' In the background at left, a building, being the office of the SDUK, is constructed of the various volumes of the Penny Cyclopedia, with the volume on monopoly being cast aside, an implicit criticism of their business practices (the Penny Cyclopedia had also been criticized for not crediting the authors of individual articles). Behind the trumpeter is a pile of wastepaper, including the Encyclopedia Britannica, which at the time was marketed to a more elite audience than the Penny Cyclopedia, suggesting Grant held it in even less regard.

Additional research on the work, confirmed by the handwritten text in the bottom margin, reveals that the trumpeter is a depiction of Lord Brougham, the founder of the SDUK. This was one of several satirical prints lambasting the SDUK by Grant, who seems to have harbored a special dislike for the organization and its founder. Grant was known for being quarrelsome and for harboring personal grudges; it is likely that he perceived Brougham as an insincere phony, being an aristocrat who claimed to be a tribune. Grant, who had prepared many subversive and radical prints, no doubt saw himself as a more genuine spokesman for the working class.

The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1826 - 1848) was a Whiggish organization founded in 1828 at the instigation of idealistic British lord Henry Peter Brougham (1778 - 1868). The Society's admirable goal was to distribute useful information through a series of publications to the English working and middle classes. It promoted self-education and the egalitarian sharing of all knowledge. While closely tied to publishing houses such as Baldwin and Cradock, Chapman and Hall, and Charles Knight, the Society failed to achieve its many lofty goals and finally closed its doors in 1848. Most likely, the Society's failure resulted from its publications being too expensive for its intended lower- to middle-class audience and yet not large or fine enough to appeal to the aristocratic market. Nonetheless, it did manage to publish several extraordinary atlases of impressive detail and sophistication.

Publication History and Census

This broadsheet was prepared by C. J. Grant and published by G.S. Tregear in 1832. Grant used a smaller version of this image of the Penny Trumpeter in another broadsheet, meant to imitate the intended target, titled 'Frontispiece for the Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Vol. 1.' The present work is quite rare, only being cataloged among the holdings of Princeton University, the Morgan Library and Museum, and the British Museum.

Cartographers

C. J. Grant (fl. c. 1830 - 1852), sometimes signing as C. J. G., was a British illustrator and artist based in London best known for his satirical works and political caricatures. Little is known of his life and even his full name remains a matter of debate; it is most often considered to be Charles Jameson Grant based on a later source, but no contemporary sources list a person of this name living in London at the time, while a Charles John Grant and Charles James Grant, an engraver and printer respectively, were known to be active in London during the most active part of his career. In any event, C.J. Grant most often worked in wood engraving, which was a much less expensive method of production, making the resulting prints more accessible to a working-class audience. He was affiliated with the Parliamentary Radicals and later the Chartists, both of which supported democratic reforms, including widening the franchise. His most ambitious work was The Political Drama (published 1833 - 1836), a series of 131 engravings attacking the Whigs and Tories, political rivals of the Radicals. Other frequent targets of derision in his work were the monarchy, bishops, magistrates, and the Metropolitan Police. Grant also wrote pantomimes and popular theater in addition to his engravings. He appears to have had a strong tendency for tumultuous personal relationships, having several public and vituperative disputes with former associates, including caricaturist William Heath and publisher Gabriel Shire Tregear. Grant's productivity declined from the late 1830s onwards and dropped precipitiously in the early 1840s; he was likely hurt by the 1836 enforcement of the Stamp Act that made the publication of single-sheet penny satires unprofitable. He also switched to a focus on social humor and commentary and less outwardly political subject, perhaps due to political pressure (some book stalls that sold The Political Drama may have been prosecuted). He increasingly produced engravings for 'scandal sheets,' another sign of difficult financial straits and professional difficulties. Grant's last known print was published in 1852.   Further Details...

Gabriel Shear Tregear (1802 - February 21, 1841), also known as Gabriel Shire Tregear, was an English publisher of caricatures and satirical prints active in the early 19th century, a golden age for the genre. Little is known about his biography and training. Trager appears to have entered the publishing business by way of his wife, Ann McLean, who was the sister of the publisher and print seller Thomas McLean. From 1823, Treager began publishing (republishing earlier McLean's works) before setting up his own shop in 1826. He quickly homed in on satirical prints as a moneymaker, though also publishing sporting and theatrical prints. Unfortunately, some of his prints reinforced deeply racist stereotypes of the time, a common theme in the genre, and he is perhaps best known today for his notoriously racist collections 'Life in Philadelphia' (1833, based on an equally offensive American run of prints with the same title) and 'Tregear's Black Jokes' (1834). After his death, Tregear's wife Ann continued to operate the business with Thomas Crump Lewis as Tregear and Lewis, also selling musical instruments, but the firm went bankrupt in 1844.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Tallow stain left margin. Even toning.

References

OCLC 270849276. British Museum Registration number 1868,0808.9445.