The Comic History of the Russian War.

Hand coloured lithograph panorama [12.5 x 247.5 cm, folding down to 13.2 x 15 cm], consisting of four sheets conjoined, with 36 scenes of various persons (as noted below); some light dust-soiling, otherwise clean throughout; with a few corrections and underlinings in pencil throughout the text; concertina-folding into cloth covers, spine expertly repaired, upper board with original publisher's printed label, with a picture of an old Turk being fed nourishing soup since he is the 'sick man of Europe', whilst a Russian lurks menacingly and two anxious men (representing Britain and France) are poised to come to the Turk's aid, and with a list of the publisher's prints and panoramas is pasted inside the back cover; a highly desirable item.

Rare satirical panorama relating to the Crimea War consisting of 38 large-head portraits in 36 images of heads of state, politicians, and military commanders involved with the War. Each image has a four-lined verse above and below, and with a few exceptions, is highly critical of everyone involved. One such exception is Florence Nightingale, the 'lady with a lamp' in this case depicted at a stove, evidently cooking up a broth for her patients:

'The sick and the wounded were left here and there,
At this place, and that, none seemed to care.
In this fearful hour, a good angel of light
The darkness dispell'd, and put matters right;

Florence Nightingale show'd, with far less expense,
What might be done by good common sense:
She, in person, directed, and laid down a plan,
And was blessed in return by each suffering man.'

Amongst the characters chosen by Cruikshank for ridicule are Sir Hamilton Seymour, Lord Aberdeen, Napoleon, Sir Edmund Lyons, Prince Alexander Menshikov, Richard Cobden, Lord Lucan, Sir Jamie Graham, Sir Deans Dundas, Lord Cardigan, Emperor Nicholas, Lord John Russell, and Sir Charles Napier. The work concludes with a scene of a sick 'Johnny Bull', sitting in a chair, his feet in a bath of hot water: 'Red tape-worm's the cause, and they think before long / His constitution again will be healthy and strong / For the blood we have shed has this lesson taught / We wern't half so wise as some people thought.'

The designer-cum-illustrator Percy Cruikshank (1810-1880?) was the son of the caricaturist, illustrator, and portrait miniaturist, Isaac Robert Cruikshank (1879-1856). His grandfather was the Scottish painter and caricaturist Isaac Cruikshank (1764-1811) and uncle the great George Cruikshank (1792-1878), praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life.