Lead plate 01
Punch Called It a Cartoon in 1843, and the Word Never Went Back
How a cheap London comic weekly coined the modern meaning of its medium, ran for a century and a half, and left its archive at the British Library.
Section 2 of 6
The press was the publisher, and it set the deadline
The weeklies and fortnightlies that commissioned the drawing, paid for the block and set the deadline — from a penny London comic of 1841 to a satirical fortnightly still commissioning covers.
Papers · 4 pieces · the full archive
Papers · Plate 02
Harper's Weekly Ran the War and the Cartoons Together
From its 1857 launch through the Civil War and Gilded Age, Harper's Weekly shaped what American readers expected a political cartoon to look like — and what it could accomplish. Read the plate
Papers · Plate 03
Puck Was the Only Thing Funnier Than Congress
The American magazine that weaponised colour lithography against the Gilded Age, and how Joseph Keppler's Puck out-mocked its rivals. Read the plate
Papers · Plate 04
Private Eye Has Been Courting Libel Writs Since 1961
Britain's most sued satirical magazine has never missed a fortnight Read the plateThe other sections
DraughtsmenThe people who did it, and what each of them is on record for.10 piecesPrintingWax, copper, stone, boxwood, zinc, then a scanner.4 piecesArchivesFour drawers, four countries, and about two hundred thousand sheets of paper.3 piecesPrizesThe Pulitzer since 1922, and the legal record before it.2 piecesGlossaryPunch called it a cartoon in 1843, and the word never went back.2 pieces