
3 3 c m
40cm
actual image size: 32cm x 25cm
Description
Print entitled 'Pray Sir have you a cheap cotton umbrella? Something lighter than mine, about 4/6'. Satirising the popular demand for umbrellas, a toad holding a toadstool is illustrated going into a shop to purchase an umbrella from a shocked shopkeeper. Visible behind the counter are hats, sticks, umbrellas and rackets. In the doorway a woman is seen protecting herself from the rain with her own umbrella. Umbrellas were in use in the ancient world as a protection from the sun, but were later popularised in England by Joseph Hanway as a protection against rain. The first umbrella shop, called James Smith & Sons, was opened in 1830 at 53 New Oxford Street in London. Umbrellas were made of wood or whalebone, until Samuel Fox invented the steel ribbed umbrella design in 1852.
Image Details
Image Ref.
10422143
© Science Museum / Science & Society Picture Library