Punch, or The London Charivari
was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry
Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer 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.
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 paper News of the World used small pieces from Punch 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 would share a friendly relationship with not only The Times but journals aimed at intellectual audiences such as the Westminster Review, which published a fifty-three page illustrated article on Punch's first two volumes. Historian Richard 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".
Increasing in readership and popularity throughout the remainder of the 1840s and 1850s, Punch was the success story of a threepenny weekly paper that had become one of the most talked-about and enjoyed periodicals. Punch enjoyed an audience including Elizabeth Barrett, Robert Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Edward FitzGerald, Charlotte Brontë, QueenVictoria , Prince Albert
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 1992 after 150 years of publication.
Punch was widely emulated worldwide and popular in the colonies. However, the colonial experience, especially inIndia India India was time and
again caricatured in Punch and can be seen as a significant source for
producing knowledge about India
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 paper News of the World used small pieces from Punch 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 would share a friendly relationship with not only The Times but journals aimed at intellectual audiences such as the Westminster Review, which published a fifty-three page illustrated article on Punch's first two volumes. Historian Richard 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".
Increasing in readership and popularity throughout the remainder of the 1840s and 1850s, Punch was the success story of a threepenny weekly paper that had become one of the most talked-about and enjoyed periodicals. Punch enjoyed an audience including Elizabeth Barrett, Robert Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Edward FitzGerald, Charlotte Brontë, Queen
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 1992 after 150 years of publication.
Punch was widely emulated worldwide and popular in the colonies. However, the colonial experience, especially in
Authors
- Gilbert Abbott A'Beckett
- Kingsley Amis
- Alex Atkinson
- Joan Bakewell
- John Betjeman
- Basil Boothroyd
- Quentin Crisp
- E.M. Delafield
- Peter Dickinson
- Willard R. Espy
- Penelope Fitzgerald
- Joyce Grenfell
- A.P. Herbert
- John Hollingshead
- Thomas Hood
- Chris Hutchins
- Douglas William Jerrold
- James Leavey
- Henry Lucy
- Olivia Manning
- George du Maurier
- George Melly
- John McCrae
- A.A. Milne
- Sylvia Plath
- Anthony Powell
- W.C. Sellar
- Stevie Smith
- William Makepeace Thackeray
- Artemus Ward
- P.G. Wodehouse
- Keith Waterhouse
- R.J. Yeatman
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