The miniature-painter and caricaturist John Kay was born near Dalkeith, Midlothian, in April 1742. The son of a mason, he was apprenticed at the age of thirteen to George Heriot, a barber in Dalkeith. Six years later, he moved to Edinburgh where he continued to work as a journeyman barber. In 1771 he was enrolled a member of the Society of Surgeon-Barbers and set up in business on his own account. In his spare time, however, he began to produce highly original portrait sketches and caricatures of Edinburgh characters, despite having received no formal training in drawing. He attracted the patronage of William Nisbet of Dirleton, who settled an annuity upon him, and in 1785 was finally able to give up his trade for art. Kay opened a shop in Parliament Close where he sold his etchings. From 1784 to 1822 he is calculated to have etched nearly nine hundred plates portraying many of the most notable Scotsmen of the day.

Many of Kay's more satirical prints were bought by his subjects themselves with the express purpose of destroying them. On at least one occasion, he was 'cudgelled' and, on another, unsuccessfully prosecuted. In 1792 he decided to publish some of his work in book form and prepared a brief biographical sketch which supplies most of the few details that are known of his life. The project, however, remained unrealized, and it was not until after his death that a collection of 340 of his etchings was published in 1837-38. Kay contributed portraits to the annual exhibitions of the Edinburgh Associated Artists from 1811 to 1816, and to the 1822 exhibition of the Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland. He died in Edinburgh on 21 February 1826.

These etchings are from the 1838 booklet**The size for the image ranges from A4 down to small miniatures. .. all are shown at the same image size so if exact sizing is needed please ask as listing each induvidually will take forever**

Plate 2

THREE EDINBURGH BUCKS. "A TRIUMVIRATE". The Daft Highland Laird, John Dhu, or Dow, alias MacDonald & Jamie Duff, an Idiot. Engraved by John Kay, 1784

Plate V.

LORD KAMES.;HUGO ARNOT, esq of  BALCORMO, ADVOCATE.; LORD MONBODDO

Plate 83
Plate 83 / No. LXXXIII.

LORD NEWTON ON THE BENCH.

LORD NEWTON'S extraordinary judicial talents and social eccentricities are the subjects of numerous anecdotes. On the bench he frequently indulged in a degree of lethargy not altogether in keeping with the dignity of the long- robe, and which, to individuals unacquainted with his habits, might well seem to interfere with the proper discharge of his duties. On one occasion, while a very zealous but inexperienced counsel was pleading before him, his lordship had been dozing, as usual, for some time. £20

Plate 30

Plate 30/ No. XXX.

THE MODERN HERCULES.

THIS is a humorous piece of satire upon Dr Carlyle and the opposition he has uniformly met with from the leading men of the popular party. The uppermost head on the hydra is that of Professor Dalzel of the University of Edinburgh the one below it that of the Rev. Dr John Erskine of Carnock, minister of Old Greyfriars' Church, intended for the bar by his father, but his own inclination was for the pulpit the undermost head that of the much-esteemed Rev. Dr Andrew Hunter of the Tron-Kirk and the figure with the hand up, cautioning Dr Carlyle, that of the Hon. Henry Erskine, advocate, who was generally employed as counsel on the side of the popular party. The other three were intended by Kay, according to his MS., for the Rev. Colin Campbell of Renfrew, the Rev. Mr Burns of Forgan, and the Rev. Dr Balfour of Glasgow. *
£20 larger plate No. XLV.

Plate 66/ No. LXVI.

AN EXCHANGE OF HEADS.1


HUGO ARNOT, ESQ. MR WILLIAM MACPHERSON, AND ROGER HOG, ESQ. THE " Exchange of Heads" is supposed to have taken place betwixt two individuals, so very opposite in every describable feature, that the one has been
denominated a shadow, while the other, par excellence, may as appropriately
be termed substance. The space between shadow and substance is ingeniously
devoted to the full development of a back vicw of a third party, who, differing entirely from either, displays a rotundity of person more than equal to the circumference of both. £18 better copy

Plate 93 LEVELLING OF THE HIGH STREET OF EDINBURGH.

THE idea of levelling the High Street was entertained so far back as 1785 ;and the " contest" which ensued is a matter of some notoriety in the civic history of the Scottish capital. . Under the patronage of Sir James Hunter Blair,  Lord Provost, a majority of the Town Council, and an advertisement issued in stating that a contractor was wanted " to level the High Street,  and to dig and carry away from it about 6000 cubic yards of earth." £18 

Plate 131/No.CXXXI.


ANDREW DALZEL, A.M., F.R.S.,

PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. THE title given to the Portraiture of this gentleman has reference to the memorable struggle for the office of Clerk to the General Assembly, which occurred in 1789. His opponent, Dr Carlyle of Inveresk, (who has already been noticed in a preceding part of this work,) was supported by the moderate or Government party, and Mr Dalzel by the popular, or, as they were then called, " the Wild Party." £18

Plate 53

LAUCHLAN M'BAIN.

THIS Print, done in 1791, represents a well-known vender of roasting-jacks. Although confessing at this period to the venerable age of seventy-five, he was still " hail and hearty," and in the zenith of his professional celebrity. Lauchlan had been a soldier, and at one time served in the 21st, or Royal Scots Fusiliers. It is not said whether he had been at the inglorious affair of Prestonpans, but he hesitated not to state that he was one of the victors at Cullo- den. At what period he obtained his discharge is unknown ; but unfortunately for him his retirement from the army was not accompanied by any pension. Upon the cessation of his military duties he came to Edinburgh, where he settled down
in civil life by becoming a manufacturer of fly-jacks and toasting-forks. In this vocation Lauchlan soon acquired notoriety, and became one of the characters of " Auld Reekie." £18

No. XXXVII.
WILLIAM FORBES, ESQ. OF CALLENDAR./ Copper Bottoms

THIS " son of fortune " was a native of Aberdeen, and brought up as a
tinsmith. Having gone to London in early life, he was at length enabled to enter into business for himself, and was struggling to rise into respectability, when, by a fortunate circumstance, the path to opulence was invitingly opened to him. In the course of the year 1780, various plans were proposed to preserve vessels from the effects of sea-water. The late Lord Dundonald, who died at Paris in 1831, having directed his attention to the subject  £20

THE CITY GUARD-HOUSE. & CORPORAL JOHN DHU.

THIS dingy, mean-looking edifice, built for the accommodation of the City-Guard, probably towards the close of the seventeenth, or beginning of the last century, was situated in the High Street,' opposite the shop now occupied by Mr Ritchie, stationer, about two hundred yards east of the Cross.* It was a slated building, one story in height, and consisted of four apartments. On the west and south-west corner was the Captain's Room ; and, adjoining, on the north, was a place for prisoners, called the " Burgher's Room." In the centre was the common hall ; and, on the east, the apartment devoted to the city chimneysweepers,who were called " tron men1" two figures of whom will be observed in the engraving.  £20

Plate 26
Plate 26

 statue sorry cannot attribute £15 

Plate 25

Engraved Portrait of Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland 1300 by John Kay £25 mega rare and larger plate too

No 1

Mtbza Aboul Ha san Khan

Envoy etraordinairy from the King of Persia to the Court of Great Britain

The persian ambassador first visited Great Britain in 1809. he was entrusted with a formal complaint against the Govenor odf India and with instructions for the settlement of a treaty betwixt Perisa and this country.His excellency landed on Plymouth on the 30th November. Every attention was paid to his accommodation and on his arrival in London was conducted to an elegant house prepared for him at mansfield Street £15 . . . mucky

Plate 8

No.VIII.

HUGO ARNOT, ESQ. ADVOCATE,AND GINGERBREAD JOCK.

THE strange figure of Mr Arnot appears to have been a favourite with
Kay, who has here ironically represented him in the act of relieving a beggar, the fact being that he had a nervous antipathy to mendicants, and was at all times more disposed to cane them than to give them an alms.John Duncan, the beggar here represented, was a poor creature, who, after having long endeavoured to support himself by the sale of gingerbread, sunk into mendicancy, which he usually practised at a corner of the Parliament square.   £18

Plate 56/No. LVI.

CAPTAIN GEORGE  GORDON, CAPTAIN GEORGE ROBERTSON, AND JOHN GRIEVE, ESQ.,  LORD PROVOST OF EDINBURGH.
CAPTAIN GORDON, the first figure in the Print, is represented as in attendance on the Lord Provost. He was formerly an officer of the Scottish Brigade * in the service of Holland, and was appointed to his situation as Captain in the Town Guard, on the death of Captain Robertson in 1787. He lived in Bell's Wynd, High Street, and was somewhat remarkable for his forenoon or meridian potations, an indulgence by no means uncommon in his day. He died on the 25th September 1803. CAPTAIN ROBERTSON, who is in the attitude of receiving instructions from the Lord Provost, has already been noticed as one of " the Three Captains of Pilate's Guard, " No. XV. JOHN GRIEVE, Ess., the centre figure of this triumvirate, was a merchant in the Royal Exchange, and held the office of Lord Provost in the years 1782-8, and again in 1786-7.  He entered the Town Council so early as 1765, was treasurer in 1769,  and Dean of Guild in 1778-9. Mr Grieve possessed a great deal of natural  sagacity, to which he entirely owed his success in business, " £18

Plate 118

No. CXVIir.

ANDREW NICOL,

WITH A PLAN OF HIS MIDDENSTEAD.This is one of the " Parliament House worthies'" mentioned in the Traditions of Edinburgh, where he is described as " a sensible-looking man, with a large blue bonnet, in which guise Kay has a very good portrait of him, displaying, with chuckling pride, a plan of his precious middenstcad."
MUCK ANDREW, as he was familiarly termed, was a native of the ancient burgh of Kinross. £18

Friendship / No.  CXL.

PROVOST ELDER AND PRINCIPAL BAIRD.

AN important event in the life of Dr Baird was his appointment to the Principality of the University of Edinburgh in 1793. The presidency of such an institution, requiring less the vigour and enterprize of youth, than that the established reputation of the seminary should be upheld by the wisdom of years, naturally associates itself with grey hairs and ripened experience. The nomination of a young man, not more than thirty-three years of age, did not well accord with this view, £18

Plate 108

No. CVIII.

MR JOHN WRIGHT, LECTURER ON LAW.
MR WRIGHT was the son of a poor cottar in Argyleshire,* who, by smuggling between that coast and the Isle of Man, was enabled to maintain his family' for many years in comparative comfort ; but, finding his ': occupation gone," in consequence of the strict prohibitory measures enforced by Government, a short time prior to the transfer of the sovereignty of that island in 1765, he left the Highlands and settled in Greenock. £18

Plate 69
MR ALEXANDER WOOD,SURGEON. No.LXIX.

THIS Print represents MR WOOD in the full possession of all that activity and fire for which he was distinguished in the hey-day of middle age. The cane is thrown smartly over his shoulder, while the whole bearing of the portrait is admirably illustrative of the bold and original character of the man. In addition to the foregoing reminiscences, there are a few other characteristic anecdotes of Mr Wood, which may with propriety be given here. The following humorous one has been related to us by a citizen of Edinburgh,now in his eighty-third year. £18 

Plate 64

No. LXIV.
THE REV. JOSEPH ROBERTSON MACGREGOR,

FIRST MINISTER OF THE EDINBURGH GAELIC CHAPEL. THE old Gaelic Chapel, at the Castlehill, was erected in 1769, principally by the exertions of Mr William Dickson, then a dyer in Edinburgh, who set on foot subscriptions, and purchased ground for the purpose, which was afterwards conveyed to the Society for propagating Christian Knowledge. In the course  of seven years afterwards, owing to the rapid influx of people from the Highlands, it was found necessary to enlarge the building, which was then done so as to accommodate eleven hundred sitters ;

£15

Plate 29/ No. XXIX.


ALEXANDER CARLYLE, D.D., INVERESK.

THIS Print gives a very striking likeness of one of the chief leaders of the Court party in our Church judicatures. From his repeated exertions in favour of the law of patronage, and frequently styling the popular party " Fanatics," Kay has given him the curious title at the bottom of the Print. Dr Carlyle (born January 26, 1722, died August 25, 1805,) is memorable as a member though an inactive one of the brilliant fraternity of literary men who attracted attention in Scotland during the latter half of the eighteenth century.  £18

     
Plate 131/ No.CXXXI.

ANDREW DALZEL, A.M., F.R.S.,

PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. THE title given to the Portraiture of this gentleman has reference to the memorable struggle for the office of Clerk to the General Assembly, which occurred in 1789. His opponent, Dr Carlyle of Inveresk, (who has already been noticed in a preceding part of this work,) was supported by the moderate or Government party, and Mr Dalzel by the popular, or, as they were then called, " the Wild Party." £18

2nd copy

No. LXVI.

AN EXCHANGE OF HEADS.

HUGO ARNOT, ESQ. MR WILLIAM MACPHERSON,AND ROGER HOG, ESQ. THE " Exchange of Heads" is supposed to have taken place betwixt two
individuals, so very opposite in every describable feature, that the one has been
denominated a shadow, while the other, par excellence, may as appropriately
be termed substance. The space between shadow and substance is ingeniously
devoted to the full development of a back vicw of a third party, who, differing entirely from either, displays a rotundity of person more than equal to the circumference of both. . . 2nd copy  £15

No.LXXXI.

MR FRANCIS ANDERSON, W.S., MR JAMES HUNTER,AND HIS SON, MR GEORGE HUNTER.

THIS graphic scene appears from the Print to have occurred in the Parliament Square, and was probably witnessed by the artist from his own shop window. Mr Hunter is in the act of inviting his friend, Mr Anderson, to dinner the excessive deafness of the latter accounting for the singular posture in which the parties are placed.MR FRANCIS ANDERSON, brother to the banker of that name, was a Writer to the Signet £18 No. LXXXII.

Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood Bart

No. XC.
SIR HENRY MONCREIFF WELLWOOD, BART.,

     

ONE Of THE MINISTERS OF THE WEST CHURCH, EDINBURGH.THIS distinguished clergyman was one of the very few men of title whom the annals of the Church of Scotland record. Descended from a family of antiquity, he was born at Blackford, near Stirling, in 1750. His father, Sir William Moncreiff, Bart., a man of " singular merits and virtues," was minister of that parish, and greatly beloved by his parishioners £15

Andrew Mc Kinley

TRIED FOR ADMINISTERING. UNLAWFUL OATHS. THE events of the Radical era of 1817-19 must be in the recollection of most readers ; and we shall only remark, that the subject of this Print was at that period one of the many suspected to be unfriendly to the Constitution. ANDREW M'KiNLAY was apprehended at Glasgow, on Saturday the 23d of February 1817, along with other seventeen persons, mostly weavers, who had assembled at night in a small public house at the head of the Old Wynd, among whom were William Edgar, teacher. Calton, and James Finlayson, junior, a writer's clerk. The object of this meeting, as represented by the prisoners, was simply to " concert measures for ascertaining the question how for they were entitled by law to parochial relief." This explanation not having been deemed satisfactory, M'Kinlay, along with twenty-five others, was committed on a charge of sedition, and afterwards conveyed to Edinburgh, to be tried before the High Court of Justiciary. £18

Rev Charles Simeon

Rev Charles Simeon

Of Trinity Church cambridge. This popular divine was born at Reading in 1759 and entered Kings in 1779/ £15

Rev Henry Grey


MINISTER OF ST MARY'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH. MB GREY was born at Alnwick, in the county of Northumberland, in the year 1778. His father was a gentleman of the medical profession. In early life he was left to the care of a kind and pious mother, who watched over her son with the most tender and anxious assiduity, and lived to receive the reward of her love and devotcdness in her son's clerical reputation and unceasing affection
£15

Rev Dr Pedle

REV. DR JAMES PEDDIE,

OF THE ASSOCIATE CONGREGATION, BRISTO STREET. THE REV. DR PEDDIE was born on the 10th of February 1759, at Perth, where his father was a respectable brewer. After having attended the grammar- school of that city^for some time, he was transferred to the academy there, of which Dr Hamilton, afterwards Professor of Natural Philosophy in Aberdeen College, and author of a well-known work on the National Debt, was the Rector £15

Plate 103

No. CIII.
DR WILLIAM CULLEN.
THIS etching of one of the great fathers of modern medicine was executed in 1784, and represents the Doctor at the venerable age of seventy-five. DR WILLIAM CÐLLEN was bom in the parish of Hamilton, county of Lanark, in the year 1710. He received the first part of his education under Mr Brisbane, at the grammar-school of Hamilton  . . .£15

Plate 68

MR ALEXANDER WOOD,SURGEON.
THE pencil of Kay has done justice to the memory of this eminent surgeon and very excellent man, by the production of two striking portraits of him. The one here prefixed possesses the real octogenarian demeanour of the " kind old Sandy Wood," who is represented as passing along the North Bridge with an umbrella under his arm, in allusion to the circumstance of his having been the first person in Edinburgh who made use of that very convenient article now so common. . MR WOOD'S father was the youngest son of Mr Wood of Warriston, in Mid-Lothian now the property of the Eail of Morton.

£18

Plate 16

Plate 16 No. XVI.
PROVOST DAVID STEUART, AND  BAILIE JOHN LOTHIAN.
CONTRAST seems to have been the design of the artist in classing these two respectable citizens together the Provost being a very handsome man, and the Bailie the reverse. The latter, from his great stoop and rotundity of shoulder, obtained from his brother bailies the soubriquet of " The Loupin-on-SUne." PROVOST STEUART, a younger son of the family of Dalguise, carried on business as a banker in Edinburgh, in partnership with Robert Allan, Esq., under the firm of Allan and Steuart. He was, in 1778, elected one of the Merchant Councillors, and, in 1779> third Bailie £18

Plate 19

CAPTAIN MINGAY,  WITH A PORTER CARRYING   GEORDIE CRANSTOUN IN HIS "CREEL."
CAPTAIN MINGAY, the principal figure in the Print, was a native of Ireland. When in Edinburgh with his regiment, now about forty-five years since, he paid his addresses, and was subsequently married to the amiable Miss Webster,* daughter of the Rev. Dr Webster, which connexion proved peculiarly advantageous to the Captain, by whom he had several children, some of whom are still alive. GEORGE CRANSTOUN, the little lachrymose-looking creature in the porter's creel, was a well-known character in this city, and must be remembered by many of its inhabitants, as it is not much more than thirty years since his death. He was of remarkably small stature, deformed in the legs, and possessed of a singularly  long, grave, and lugubrious countenance £18

Plate 74
Plate 74
John Erskine by John Kay
etching, 1793

Sitter John Erskine (floruit 1789), Minister.  better copy

£12