Confusing!

So it's been almost three years since we've heard anything definitive about the movie adaptation of Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy. I'm thinking this project is (*sobs*) dead in the water. But on the upside, I recently saw a picture of this vintage edition of the novel online, and it fills my heart with joy. What the hell is happening here? Is that woman curtsying, or just... I don't know, falling off the sofa? Why is the monkey so tiny? And is that guy holding a lit match?