Harlequin And Mother Goose: Or The Golden Egg -

London: Laurie & Whittle, 1807. 1ff. Framed engraved writing sheet with a mirror over the blank area in the center usually reserved for examples of penmanship. The mirror is near-contemporary to the writing sheet, and together they create an attractive piece that perhaps could have served as decoration in a child's room. The ten hand-colored illustrations bordering the mirror depict the pantomime of Harlequin and Mother Goose or, the Golden Egg, featuring the characters of the Harlequinade. This popular and very successful comic pantomime by Thomas John Dibdin debuted in London in December, 1806, with famed comic actor Joseph Grimaldi in the role of the clown. The writing sheet is entirely intact and unmarked: the silvering of the mirror was painted onto the inside of the frame glass and is not adhered to the paper. The date printed at the bottom of the sheet is March 25, 1807, and the print is numbered 88 in the lower left corner. These ornamented writing sheets also known as writing blanks, "school pieces," or "Christmas pieces," were used to encourage good penmanship in children. The blank space was filled in with a sampler of a child's best penmanship, and the completed page was often given as a gift from children to their parents. Laurie & Whittle were best known as London publishers of maps and atlases, but the firm also published prints and some juvenile items. Slight toning to the paper, else fine. This writing sheet is a remarkable survival and an unusual, creative presentation of a piece of juvenile ephemera. In a black and gold frame, which shows some rubbing to the corners. Writing sheet measures 16 by 14 inches, in a 20 by 18-inch frame.