Punch
Punch names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Punch a well known London comic weekly
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a well known London comic weekly. The first issue appeared July 17, 1841. Henry Mayhew, Mark Lemon, and Stirling Coyne were associate editors. Douglas Jerrold and Gilbert a Beckett were contributors. Ebenezer Landells had charge of engravings and drawings. The enterprise was an imitation of the Paris Charivari. The name was borrowed from the principal character in the popular puppet show. Many distinguished writers lent their aid. Thackeray's contributions, since published separately, fill a volume. Other noted contributors were "Tom" Hood, "Tom" Taylor, Artemas Ward, G. A. Sala, and H. K. Browne, the latter under the name of "Phiz." The inspiring genius was Mark Lemon, the first editor-in-chief. He kept Punch free from party bias, and was thus in a position to attack all forms of public wrong, pernicious legislation, and to lampoon the follies, shams, and affectations of society. Punch sold for a sixpence. The first issue ran into its fifth thousand. Subsequent issues reached an immense circulation. It is safe to say that no paper published in London has had a greater influence in shaping public opinion. One reason lay in the impartial way in which praise and blame were dealt out to friend and foe alike. While intensely British and even confined to London in its sympathies, Punch has not failed now and again to thrill the whole world. It never missed an occasion to ridicule President Lincoln, yet at his death, Mark Lemon wrote, referring of course to Punch: You lay a wreath on murdered Lincoln's bier, You, who with mocking pencil wont to trace, Broad for the self-complacent British sneer, His length of shambling limb, his furrowed face; His gaunt, gnarled hands, his unkempt, bristling hair. His garb uncouth, his bearing ill at ease, His lack of all we prize as debonair, Of power or will to shine, or art to please; You, whose smart pen backed up the pencil's laugh, Judging each step as though the way were plain, Reckless, so it could point its paragraph Of chief's perplexity, or people's pain: Besides this corpse, that bears for winding-sheet The Stars and Stripes he lived to rear anew, Between the mourners at his head and feet, Say, scurrile jester, is there room for you? Yes; he had lived to shame me from my sneer, To lame my pencil, and confute my pen; To make me own this kind of prince's peer, This rail-splitter, a true-born king of men. Some reminiscences of the first editor of Punch have recently been going the rounds of the press, in connection with the famous humorist's centenary; for Mark Lemon followed the example of Tennyson, Lincoln, FitzGerald, and other celebrities, in choosing 1809 for his birth-year. It was Lemon's rather peculiar and suggestive name that finally determined the choice of a title for the projected paper. The Funny Dog had been all but decided upon, when one of the group of artists and authors interested in the new journal spoke of it as resembling a good brew of punch, in that it was nothing without a Lemon. Thereupon Henry Mayhew, the proprietor of the paper, caught at the suggestion and exclaimed: "A capital idea! We'll call it Punch!" So humble were its first beginnings that Lemon's salary was no more than thirty shillings a week. Yet so truly did he discern the possibilities of the new weekly, and so effectively did he bend all his energies toward realizing those possibilities, that eventually he enjoyed an editorial income of fifteen hundred pounds a year. The story of Lemon's brilliant achievements and of the remarkable success he made of Punch--a success that is wont to seem somewhat incredible to readers on this side of the Atlantic--is an interesting one. Its genial and tactful first editor has been dead nearly forty years.--The Dial.
Punch or the LONDON CHARI- VARI
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or the LONDON CHARI- VARI, the chief of English comic journals, a weekly magazine of wit, humor, and satire in prose and verse, illustrated by sketches, caricatures, and emblematic devices. It was founded in 1841, the first number appearing July 17 of that year, under the joint editorship of Henry and Mark Lemon Mayhew .
Punch with his wife Judy and dog Toby
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
with his wife Judy and dog Toby, the chief characters in a popular comic puppet show, of Italian origin, the Punchia contraction of Pun name being ng nello, for Pulcinello, the droll clown in comedy. The full-grown Neapolitan an modern drama is ascribed to an Italian comedian, Silvio Fiorillo, about 1600.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Punch survived long after Collier's called it "the chief of English comic journals" in 1921, but not to the present: circulation fell steadily after the Second World War and the magazine printed its last issue in April 1992, after 150 years. Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the title and revived it in 1996, only to close it again in 2002 as a loss-maker; the bound archive was later acquired by the British Library. The puppet Punch described in the same volume has fared better — Punch and Judy is still performed on English seafronts, though the wife-beating and baby-throwing that were once its comic staples now draw regular objections and are often softened or cut.
Written for this edition, 2026.