A UNIQUE ALBUM OF PORNOGRAPHIC CARTOONS BANNED FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY WENT ON SHOW RECENTLY AFTER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS JUDGED THEM 'TAME' ENOUGH TO GO ON DISPLAY. FORTY IMAGES BY THE ONCE CONTROVERSIAL JAMES GILLRAY, A LEADING CARICATURIST OF THE LATE 1700s, WERE DISCOVERED BY WORKERS AT THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE DURING AN OFFICE MOVE. THE HISTORIC ALBUM, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN SEIZED BY POLICE IN THE 1800s, HAS NOW BEEN TRANSFERRED TO THE PRINT COLLECTIONS OF THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM. A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE MUSEUM SAID THE ALBUM FEATURED 'EXPLICITLY SEXUAL AND POLITICALLY OUTRAGEOUS' SUBJECT MATTER. IT JOINS ONE HELD BY THE V&A SINCE 1869, CONTAINING AROUND 500 OF THE ARTIST'S CARICATURES. DAVID PEARSON, AN OFFICIAL IN THE CRIMINAL LAW POLICY UNIT, FOUND THE FOLIO WEDGED BETWEEN A DESK AND A CABINET IN A BLACK BIN LINER. HE SAID: 'THE FOLIO WAS CAREFULLY WRAPPED UP ALONGSIDE A COLLECTION OF SEIZED MATERIAL THAT HAD BEEN HANDED TO THE OLD OBSCENE PUBLICATIONS UNIT OVER THE YEARS. THAT MATERIAL IS FAIRLY TAME BY TODAY'S STANDARDS, BUT WHEN I UNCOVERED THE FOLIO IT WAS CLEAR THAT IT WAS SOMETHING A LITTLE OUT OF THE ORDINARY. EVEN SO, AFTER SOME RESEARCH, I WAS AMAZED TO DISCOVER IT HAD SUCH HISTORICAL VALUE AND AM PLEASED TO NOW SEE THE PRINTS KEPT SAFE IN A SUITABLE PLACE.' GILLRAY WAS FAMOUS FOR SATIRIZING THE GREAT AND THE GOOD, FROM ROYALTY TO BRITISH POLITICIANS AND THE FRENCH ELITE. HE WAS SO TALENTED A TROUBLE MAKER THAT WILLIAM PITT THE YOUNGER ATTEMPTED TO BUY HIM OFF WITH A £200 A YEAR PENSION. THE PRINCE REGENT, WHO LATER BECAME KING GEORGE IV, BOUGHT AS MANY COPIES AS POSSIBLE TO LIMIT THEIR CIRCULATION. THE ARTIST EVENTUALLY DIED UNMARRIED AND INSANE IN 1815. IN THE ART WORLD GILLRAY'S DEPICTION OF THE FEET OF PRINCE FREDERICK, SECOND SON OF GEORGE III, AND HIS BRIDE PRINCESS FREDERICA, HAS ENDURED AS SHORT HAND SYMBOLISM OF SEX EVER SINCE.
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