[Large Silk Broadside of Crystal Palace Overprinted with a Satirical Scene Around the Outer Margins Involving the Impact of Slavery and British Colonialism]

[N.p., likely London, 1890. Lithograph on silk handkerchief, approximately 24 x 24 inches, with additional lithographed scene printed around the outer margins in brown and blue ink. Previously matted and framed, with resultant edge wear and adhesive staining around margins. Old folds, some foxing and staining in image area. Overall good plus condition. A very rare and impactful 19th-century British lithograph-on-lithograph, the original a view of London's Crystal Palace with the addition of a satirical scene detailing the history of British colonialist activities in Africa. The overall scene is presented in four linear parts, one across each (mostly) blank margin of the Crystal Palace scene; interestingly, the two lithographs overlap each other at a few places along the short edge. The scene seems to begin with the part labeled "African Slave Trade," picturing two slave traders leading a chained procession of African slaves (men, women, and children). The next edge is labeled "The Rescue," and shows three British soldiers (including one bagpiper) freeing the slaves (who are pictured free of their chains and dancing) and now detaining the two slave traders in chains.

The third panel pictures two groups of Africans -- one group running to a rum dealer and another group listening to a man holding a book, presumably a missionary preacher. This scene seems to allude to British activities in the West Indies. The final panel, labeled "Civilization," is the most varied. It pictures a couple of British railway agents under the banner "Change for Timbuctoo;" a group of African men in Western garb, one holding a sign reading, "African Times;" an African man riding a bicycle; and a family scene of a man kneeling in front of a seated woman while he kisses her hand and a young man in the background sells matches. How civilized, indeed. Each corner of the work is emblazoned with a British lion and the Union Jack amidst a field of African foliage and West Indian palm trees. The scene seems to celebrate the effects of British colonialism while ignoring the country's own history as slaveholders and traffickers the previous century.

"The border panels of this printed cotton handkerchief caricature the impact of British colonial policy on Africa. It was probably produced at the end of the 19th century, at a period when European colonial rule led to increasing social and political intervention in African societies. It illustrates the rescue of a group of slaves by a British military detachment and their subsequent 'westernization' through the introduction of European goods and commodities." This description comes from the online description of the only other example of this scene we can find, which resides at the National Maritime Museum (NMM) at Greenwich, London. The NMM example is printed on a blank cotton handkerchief, in brown and red, and is slightly smaller on one side than our example. Their dating is likely correct, if for nothing else because of the depiction of a chain-driven bicycle, which became popular in the UK in the 1890s.