Memento Mordant: Etching Bubbles and Biting Time

Abstract

The tercentenary of the 1720 South Sea Bubble saw a flurry of interest in The Bubblers Medley (fig. 1), a satirical trompe-l'oeil print published by Thomas Bowles II and sold at his London shop soon after the stock market collapsed. 1 Yet for all the attention paid to the medley's printed items-news clippings, illustrated verse, a playing card-one figure got short shrift: the naked boy blowing soap bubbles in the lower righthand corner. 2