.png) Cover of the firstPunch, or The London Charivari, depicts Punch hanging a caricaturedDevil, 1841 (seegallery below for enlarged detail). | |
| Categories | Politics, culture, humour and satire |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Weekly |
| Founder | |
| Founded | 1841 |
| First issue | 17 July 1841 |
| Final issue | 2002 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Based in | London |
| Language | English |
| Website | punch |
Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine ofhumour andsatire established in 1841 byHenry Mayhew and wood-engraverEbenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration. Artists atPunch includedJohn Tenniel who, from 1850, was the chief cartoon artist at the magazine for over 50 years. The editors took the anarchic puppet Mr Punch, ofPunch and Judy, as their mascot—the character appears in many magazine covers—with the character also an inspiration for the magazine's name.
With its satire of the contemporary, social, and political scene,Punch became a household name inVictorian Britain. Sales of 40,000 copies a week by 1850 rose above 100,000 by 1910. After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002.
Punch was founded on 17 July 1841 byHenry Mayhew and wood-engraverEbenezer Landells, on an initial investment of £25 (equivalent to £2,871 in 2023). It was jointly edited by Mayhew andMark Lemon. It was subtitledThe London Charivari in homage toCharles Philipon's French satirical humour magazineLe Charivari.[1] Reflecting their satiric and humorous intent, the two editors took for their name and masthead the anarchic glove puppet Mr. Punch, ofPunch and Judy; the name also referred to a joke made early on about one of the magazine's first editors, Lemon, that "punch is nothing without lemon".[2]
Mayhew ceased to be joint editor in 1842 and became "suggestor in chief" until he severed his connection in 1845. The magazine initially struggled for readers, except for an 1842Almanack issue which shocked its creators by selling 90,000 copies. In December 1842, due to financial difficulties, the magazine was sold toBradbury and Evans, both printers and publishers. Bradbury and Evans capitalised on newly evolving mass printing technologies and also were the publishers forCharles Dickens andWilliam Makepeace Thackeray.
The term "cartoon" to refer to comic drawings was first used inPunch in 1843, when theHouses of Parliament were to be decorated with murals, and "cartoons" for the mural were displayed for the public; the term "cartoon" then meant a finished preliminary sketch on a large piece of cardboard, orcartone in Italian.Punch humorously appropriated the term to refer to its political cartoons, and the popularity of thePunch cartoons led to the term's widespread use.[3]
IllustratorArchibald Henning designed the cover of the magazine's first issues. The cover design varied in the early years, thoughRichard Doyle designed what became the magazine'smasthead in 1849. Artists who published inPunch during the 1840s and 1850s includedJohn Leech, Doyle,John Tenniel, andCharles Keene. This group became known as "ThePunch Brotherhood", which also included Charles Dickens, who joined Bradbury and Evans after leavingChapman and Hall in 1843.[4]Punch's authors and artists also contributed to another Bradbury and Evans literary magazine calledOnce A Week (est. 1859), created in response to Dickens' departure fromHousehold Words.[4]
Helen Hoppner Coode contributed nineteen drawings toPunch and is recognised as its first woman contributor.[5][6]
In the 1860s and '70s, conservativePunch faced competition from upstart liberal journalFun, but after about 1874,Fun's fortunes faded. At Evans's café in London, the two journals had "round tables" in competition with each other.[7]
After months of financial difficulty and lack of market success,Punch became a staple for British drawing rooms because of its sophisticated humour and absence of offensive material, especially when viewed against the satirical press of the time.The Times and the Sunday paperNews of the World used small pieces fromPunch as column fillers, giving the magazine free publicity and indirectly granting a degree of respectability, a privilege not enjoyed by any other comic publication.Punch shared a friendly relationship with not onlyThe Times, but also journals aimed at intellectual audiences such as theWestminster Review, which published a 53-page illustrated article onPunch's first two volumes. HistorianRichard Altick writes that "To judge from the number of references to it in the private letters and memoirs of the 1840s...Punch had become a household word within a year or two of its founding, beginning in the middle class and soon reaching the pinnacle of society,royalty itself".[8]
Increasing in readership and popularity throughout the remainder of the 1840s and '50s,Punch was the success story of athreepenny weekly paper that had become one of the most talked-about and enjoyed periodicals.Punch enjoyed an audience includingElizabeth Barrett,Robert Browning,Thomas Carlyle,Edward FitzGerald,Charlotte Brontë,Queen Victoria,Prince Albert,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Emily Dickinson,Herman Melville,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, andJames Russell Lowell.Punch gave several phrases to theEnglish language, includingThe Crystal Palace, and the "Curate's egg" (first seen in an 1895 cartoon byGeorge du Maurier). Several British humour classics were first serialised inPunch, such as theDiary of a Nobody and1066 and All That. Towards the end of the 19th century, the artistic roster includedHarry Furniss,Linley Sambourne,Francis Carruthers Gould, andPhil May.[4] Among the outstanding cartoonists of the following century wereBernard Partridge,H. M. Bateman,Bernard Hollowood (who also edited the magazine from 1957 to 1968), Kenneth Mahood, andNorman Thelwell.
Circulation broke the 100,000 mark around 1910, and peaked in 1947–1948 at 175,000 to 184,000. Sales declined steadily thereafter; ultimately, the magazine was forced to close in 2002 after 161 years of publication.[10]
Punch was widely emulated worldwide and was popular throughout theBritish Empire. The experience of Britons in British colonies, especially in India, influencedPunch and its iconography. Tenniel'sPunch cartoons of the 1857Sepoy Mutiny led to a surge in the magazine's popularity. India was frequently caricatured inPunch and was an important source of knowledge onthe subcontinent for British readers.[11]
Punch material was collected in book formats from the late 19th century, which includedPick of the Punch annuals with cartoons and text features,Punch and the War (a 1941 collection of WWII-related cartoons), andA Big Bowl of Punch – which was republished a number of times. ManyPunch cartoonists of the late 20th century published collections of their own, partly based onPunch contributions.
In early 1996, businessmanMohamed Al-Fayed bought the rights to the name, andPunch was relaunched later that year.[10][12] The new version of the magazine was intended to be a spoiler aimed atPrivate Eye, which had published many items critical of Fayed.Punch never became profitable in its new incarnation, and at the end of May 2002, it was announced as once more ceasing publication.[10] Press reports quoted a loss of £16 million over the six years of publication, with only 6,000 subscribers at the end.
Whereas the earlier version ofPunch prominently featured the clownish characterPunchinello (Punch ofPunch and Judy) performing antics on front covers, the resurrectedPunch did not use the character, but featured on its weekly covers a photograph of a boxing glove, thus informing its readers that the new magazine intended its name to mean "punch" in the sense of a boxing blow.
In 2004, much of the archives was acquired by theBritish Library, including thePunch table. The long, oval, Victorian table was brought into the offices some time around 1855, and was used for staff meetings and on other occasions. The wooden surface is scarred with the carved initials of the magazine's long-term writers, artists, and editors, as well as six invited "strangers", includingJames Thurber andCharles III (thenPrince of Wales).Mark Twain declined the invitation, saying that the already-carved initials of William Makepeace Thackeray included his own.
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Punch was influential throughout theBritish Empire, and in countries including Turkey, India, Japan, and China, withPunch imitators appearing inCairo,Yokohama,Tokyo,Hong Kong, andShanghai.[22]
A Canadian version,Punch in Canada, was launched on 1 January 1849. The magazine was published by Thomas Blades de Walden, a dilapidated member of one of the great aristocratic families of England, and an associated of the officers of the garrison stationed in Toronto.[23] According to John Henry Walker, a wood engraver working forPunch, the magazine was doing well. However, the production ceased abruptly in 1850[24] when De Walden and Charles Dawson Shanly fled to New York.[25]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The History of Punch Phillips.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
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