1871 Vanity Cover | Kostaki Musurus Pasha

Vanity Fair was a society and satirical magazine published from 1869 until 1915, it featured a full page presentation plate that was a caricature of a famous person from the period, these are often called Spy or Ape prints after the two most famous artists, they are much sought after. Born in Capua in 1839, Carlo Pellegrini moved to London in November 1864 where he became the protégé of the Prince of Wales and his set. Joining the magazine as an amateur without any professional experience, Pellegrini's caricatures were none the less brilliantly successful. Both these drawings are signed 'Singe', subsequently to be anglicised to 'Ape'.

Mavi Boncuk |

Vanity Fair cover, Feb. 8, 1871 of "The most interesting of all the diplomatic corps in London"... "His excellency Constantine Musurus, commonly called Musurus Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador, is of Greek extraction, and was born in 1807. His diplomatic career, so far as it belongs to the general history of Europe, dates from 1848, when he represented the Sultan at Vienna, having previously distinguished himself as
Governor of Samos and Minister at Athens. In 1851 he came to London invested with full powers as Envoy Extraordinary of the Port."
Kostaki Musurus Paşa (1807-1891) No.118. Statesmen No.73. Vanity Fair, Feb.4 1871 Drawn by Ape. Original chromolithograph. Page size approx. 38 x 26.5cm. Image size approx. 32 x 19cm.

Excerpt:"...The British Association was to meet at Bath this autumn, and Dr. Livingstone was to give a lecture on Africa. It was a dreadful thought. "Worked at my Bath speech. A cold shiver comes over me when I think of it. Ugh!" Then he went with his daughter Agnes to see a beautiful sight, the launching of a Turkish frigate from Mr. Napier's yard--"8000 tons weight plunged into the Clyde, and sent a wave of its dirty water over to the other side." The Turkish Ambassador, Musurus Pasha, was one of the party at Shandon, and he and Livingstone traveled in the same carriage At one of the stations they were greatly cheered by the Volunteers. "The cheers are for you," Livingstone said to the Ambassador, with a smile. "No," said the Turk "I am only what my master made me; you are what you made yourself." When the party reached the Queen's Hotel, a working man rushed across the road, seized Livingstone's hand, saying, "I must shake your hand," clapped him on the back, and rushed back again. "You'll not deny now," said the Ambassador, "that that's for you."
The Personal Life Of David Livingstone by William Garden Blaikie

"...Meanwhile, Musurus Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador, was complaining to Lord Granville that 'the Sultan had assented to the Convention under a false impression, not knowing that a portion of his dominions would be given over to Austrian control, an alienation not contemplated by the Treaty of San Stefano.' He complained, moreover, that the arrangement went, in reality, beyond temporary occupation of provinces. 'We (Lord Salisbury) had given Bosnia and Herzegovina secretly to Austria without reserve."
The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1 by Stephen Gwynn

See Also: NETICE YILDIZ Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus
Ottoman Diplomats and their Residences in London