Woodward, George Moulard "Making a Sailor an Odd Fellow!!"

George Woodward (1760-1809).  "Making a Sailor an Odd Fellow!!"

London: T. Tegg, December 1st 1812. Etching by George Cruikshank. 9 1/4 x 13 1/4. Hand color. "109" in upper right corner. Trimmed to just beyond neatline, touching neatline bottom right corner. Else, very good condition. 

An amateur caricaturist produced political cartoons in London between 1794 and 1800, including some in a strip format that was of his own devising. He lived a rather dissolute life and died in a tavern.

A cartoon that seems to involve a British sailor skeptical about joining the Odd Fellows. A man in the center petitions the "Chairman" behind the table to admit "Mr. Benjamin Block of Wapping Old Stairs" to "the Ancient and honourable Society." Block himself, in sailor clothes, says, "Avast my Hearties, - before I've proceeded any further on the voyage let me know what course you are steering - if you mean to frighten a British sailor with your goggle eyes, and queer faces, you are d----dly mistaken - besides it appears to me that you have got masks on which is like fighting under false colours, and that wont do for an English Jack Tar!"

Another caricature by George Woodward:

"The Reason Why Lawyers wear Black in Term Time."