1861 (year of production) Wood engraving mounted on grey card
175 x 310 mm. Purchase: Puttick and Simpson Auctioneers, Leicester Square, London 1924
Doyle's 'Bird's-Eye Views of Society'- series consists of sixteen images which were published in Cornhill Magazine between April 1861 and October 1862. Doyle wrote humorous articles to accompany each image.
View of a beach in the foreground, cliffs in the background to the left and the sea with boats and ships to the right. Clouds are on the horizon. Bathing machines are standing in the water in the middle distance. Adults and children of all ages are occupied with reading, painting, searching shells, riding donkeys and horses or playing croquet. Some children are splashing around in the water. A group of fishermen stands to the left, a group of people sits in a stranded boat next to them. A fat gentleman in a donkey cart looks out on the sea with a telescope. Doyle's initials and 'dicky' bird are in the lower left-hand corner, the engraver's in the lower right-hand corner. The paper is yellowed with age and has two folds.