Frost Fair souvenir ticket, printed on the frozen Thames
London: February 5, 1814. Souvenir ticket, measuring 2.25 x 3 inches, printed in various typefaces within a typographic border. Mounted to fragment of scrapbook leaf, measuring 2.75 x 3.25 inches. Lightest wear.
Commemorative souvenir printed on the frozen Thames during the London Frost Fair of 1814. Set during the last of London’s “Little Ice Ages,” the 1814 fair began on February 1, when the river froze solid between London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. The makeshift carnival featured music, dancing, skating, drinking, grilling, bonfires, fairground rides and games, even an elephant – as well as enterprising peddlers selling treats and souvenirs. A number of printers set up presses on the ice to issue commemorative tickets, like this one, to revelers. The fair broke down the night of February 5, the date this ticket was printed: “Towards the evening, the concourse became thinned; rain fell in some quantity; – MAISTER ICE gave some loud cracks, and floated with the printing presses, booths, &c. to the no small dismay of publicans, typographers, &c. In short, this icy palace of Momus, this fairy frost work, was soon to be dissolved” (George Davis, Frostiana, 1814). The printed verse on this ticket reads: “Amidst the Arts which on the THAMES appear, / To tell the wonders of this icy year, / PRINTING claims prior place, which at one view / Erects a monument of THAT and YOU.” The colophon reads: “Printed on the River Thames, February 5, in the 54th year of the reign of King George the IIId. Anno Domini 1814.” A delightful survival, printed in the final hours of the final London Frost Fair.
Price: $650.00