Object Type
This print by William Hogarth combines two printmaking techniques - etching and engraving. Both involved creating a pattern of grooves to hold ink in a metal printing plate. The etched lines were made using acid, while the engraved lines were scored by means of a sharp tool called a burin. The grooves were then filled with ink and the image was transferred onto a blank sheet of paper.

Trading
This was the first print Hogarth sold independently of the established London printsellers. It cost one shilling. He had trouble selling it because soon after publication, half-price pirated copies appeared.

People
Hogarth made this print quite early on in his career. In it he touches on some of the themes and motifs that were important to his work. These include the theatre, street life and the battle between native British culture and its Italian and French equivalents.

Subject Depicted
On the left the public is queuing to get into a masquerade, a sort of fancy dress party with erotic possibilities. This enthusiasm for a form of entertainment with Italian origins is contrasted with a corresponding neglect of British culture. The woman in the foreground is pushing a wheelbarrow of waste paper filled with the works of authors such as Shakespeare and Dryden.