Gillray (James) After.

Dublin, William McCleary, c.1802.
Gillray’s satire of the popularity of Gothic horror and romance in the early 19th century, depicting a group of three women listening agog to a fourth companion who reads to them from ‘Tales of Wonder!’, with a related title, ‘The Monk’, lying on the table between them. The line above the image reads “This attempt to describe the effects of the Sublime & Wonderful is Dedicated to M.G. Lewis Esq.r M.P.”, referring to Matthew Gregory Lewis, MP for Hindon from 1796 to 1802, and the author of these racy books, which bordered on the indecent and were considered unsuitable for family reading.

This particular image is a reversed, pirated, copy published in Nassau Street, Dublin, by McCleary, which is not found in the British Museum collection. Another pirated copy by William Brocas, which is to be found there, keeps the original orientation, and was published J. Sidebotham at around the same time..
260 by 335mm (10¼ by 13¼ inches).