Exhibition Extraordinary!! (2001). Edited with an introduction, commentary and notes, by John Barrell. A new, witty and immensely inventive form of political propaganda in London in the mid-1970’s: a series of mock-advertisements and other public announcements which represented the activities of George III, of the government of William Pitt, and of the leaders of the British Army fighting the French Republic, as so many spectacles and entertainments: as plays, pantomimes, auction sales, art-exhibitions, ceremonial processions, and magic-shows.

Detailed Description

A new, witty and immensely inventive form of political propaganda in London in the mid-1970’s: a series of mock-advertisements and other public announcements which represented the activities of George III, of the government of William Pitt, and of the leaders of the British Army fighting the French Republic, as so many spectacles and entertainments: as plays, pantomimes, auction sales, art-exhibitions, ceremonial processions, and magic-shows.

These satires use all the design know-how and typographical high jinks of late eighteenth century street advertising, and any of them remain hilariously funny despite the passage of 200 years. They also raise some fascinating questions, about who wrote them, how they were disseminated, their audience, and the relations between ‘polite’ politicians and the popular radicalism in the years of the French Revolution. This book presents 26 of these satires, together with an explanatory Introduction and full commentary. Exhibition Extraordinary!! Will fascinate all those interested in political history and the history of the theatre, as well as students and scholars with an interest in British culture during the French Revolution.

John Barrell is Professor of English in the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. He is the author of a number of books on eighteenth and early nineteenth century literature, art and politics, most recently Imagining the Kings’ Death (Oxford, 2000).

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