Autograph receipt signed by illustrator Alfred Crowquill dated 1842

FORRESTER, Alfred Henry (“Alfred Crowquill”) (1804-1872). Autograph receipt signed for the sale of two drawings and their copyright, subjects “Temperance & Intemperance”. Dated 28 September 1842.
 
Single sheet, manuscript in ink, signed “Alfred Crowquill”. Old horizontal fold, light creasing, toning to the edges, otherwise very good.
 
Receipt reading: “Received Sept. 28, 1842 of Mr. Lambe The sum of Ten Pounds being a consideration for the sale of 2 Drawings & the sole copyright of subjects Temperance & Intemperance.” 
 
Alfred Henry Forrester (1804–1872), illustrator and comic artist working under the name Alfred Crowquill, here records the outright sale and transfer of sole copyright in two designs for £10. In 1843 R. C. Lambe of Gracechurch Street published engravings titled Temperance — The Man and Intemperance — The Animal after Crowquill; the present receipt relates to that series.
 
The paired subjects reflect the visual language of the early Victorian temperance movement, in which sobriety was associated with rational self-command and improvement - the man, and drunkenness with moral and physical degradation - the animal.