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A framed Tenniel wood engraving mounted on a gallery wall, adult visitors standing in front of it at viewing distance

Section 6 of 6

Punch called it a cartoon in 1843, and the word never went back

Two words that are still used interchangeably and should not be, traced through the dated citations that fixed their meanings.

Glossary · 2 pieces · the full archive

Renaissance painting of robed figures in fishing boats kneeling before a haloed man on the shore

Lead plate 01

Cartoon: How a Preparatory Drawing Became an Insult

A single issue of Punch in 1843 hijacked a technical term from the fine arts and gave it to political satire permanently.

Two uniformed figures carve up a globe-shaped pudding with forks and knives at a table

Glossary · Plate 02

Caricature Is What the Face Does; Cartoon Is What the Argument Does

Two words that have circled each other for two centuries without quite merging — and why the distinction still matters. Read the plate

The other sections

DraughtsmenThe people who did it, and what each of them is on record for.10 pieces PapersThe press was the publisher, and it set the deadline.4 pieces PrintingWax, copper, stone, boxwood, zinc, then a scanner.4 pieces ArchivesFour drawers, four countries, and about two hundred thousand sheets of paper.3 pieces PrizesThe Pulitzer since 1922, and the legal record before it.2 pieces