Vintage Theatre Spectacles Hardcover Journal — Isaac Cruikshank 1809 Covent Garden Old Price Riots Caricatures

On the night of 18 September 1809, the newly rebuilt Covent Garden Theatre opened its doors for the first time since the fire that had destroyed the old building the previous year. The management, under the actor-manager John Philip Kemble, had used the rebuilding as an opportunity to raise ticket prices and convert part of the theatre into private boxes for wealthy subscribers. The audience’s response was immediate: they chanted “O.P.!” — Old Prices — throughout the performance, banging sticks, blowing whistles, waving placards. It was the beginning of 67 consecutive nights of protest — one of the most sustained, theatrical, and ultimately successful acts of popular resistance in the history of British culture. Isaac Cruikshank, one of the great Georgian caricaturists, was watching.

His response was a pair of prints that remain among the finest works of Georgian satirical art: the O.P. Spectacles and the N.P. Spectacles, published in 1809. Through the lenses of a pair of spectacles, Cruikshank showed two versions of the same theatre — the theatre as the protesters saw it, through Henry Clifford’s O.P. spectacles on the front cover, and the theatre as the management saw it, through John Philip Kemble’s N.P. spectacles on the back. Two perspectives, one conflict, one of the most brilliantly conceived visual conceits in the history of British satirical art — and a reminder that the theatre has always belonged, in the end, to the people who fill it.

Product Details

• Format: Hardcover journal
• Pages: 150 lined pages (75 sheets) with perforations for easy removal
• Binding: Casewrap sewn binding — flexible and lay-flat
• Dimensions: 5.75 × 8 inches
• Weight: 100 g
• Cover: Matte laminated full-wrap print
• Illustration: Isaac Cruikshank, O.P. Spectacles and N.P. Spectacles (1809) — hand-coloured engraving
• Old Price Riots, Covent Garden Theatre, London — Henry Clifford & John Philip Kemble

Perfect For

• Theatre historians, actors, and London stage enthusiasts
• Georgian caricature and British satire collectors
• Covent Garden devotees and British theatre history admirers
• Students and researchers of Georgian popular culture
• Writers and creatives inspired by the intersection of art and protest
• A witty and distinctive gift for anyone who loves the theatre

The Story Behind the Caricatures

67 nights of chanting, banging, and whistling at Covent Garden, Henry Clifford’s spectacles, and how the Georgian audience proved that the theatre belongs to the people — read the full story on our blog →