Mr Punch In London Town I
First in an occasional series from The New Punch Library, Volume 15 being Mr Punch in London Town. No publishing date, but definitely 1930s. The collection comprises essays and cartoons from 1899 onwards.
First in an occasional series from The New Punch Library, Volume 15 being Mr Punch in London Town. No publishing date, but definitely 1930s. The collection comprises essays and cartoons from 1899 onwards.
What great cartoons, what a pity it stopped
I have always admired Punch cartoons for their variety, their subtlety and for their shrewd observations of life and society.
Topical cartoons are all well enough but I think timeless ones like the “jumper” cartoon above have the edge over most of them. And how marvellous it is to see that the problems with whinge about today – traffic congestion – were shared by our forebears.
Like John, I am sorry that Punch ceased publication. We could do with it today more than ever.
I have dozens of wonderful London-related items like these which I’ll post in the months ahead.
Unfortunately, Punch didn’t move with the times. It was too gentle for our cynical, hard-edged times. The age of Spitting Image, alternative comedy etc. Brief hiatus under the great Alan Coren. Had excellent items such as the Idi Amin spoofs and Miles Kington’s Let’s Parler Franglais in the 70s and 80s. Its space now occupied by Private Eye, the Oldie and even Viz. And online by things like the excellent Daily Mash. Attempted re-launch by Fayed 1996-2002 was utterly hopeless.
Punch, or the London Chaviari, founded by Henry Mayhew and Ebenezer Landells 17/7/1841. Anniversary a few days ago.