Monday, February 17, 2014

S4: Mr. Punch in London Town

Dropped by the Biblio-Mat for a photo op and out came another book that I wish I had gotten a year ago for the blog:

Book: Mr. Punch in London Town

When were jesters ever non-creepy?

Collecting “the cream of national humour contributed to “Punch” by our leading comic draughtsmen and humourous writers from the year 1900 to the present day”, this 240-page book is an anthology of cartoons, poems, and short stories from the legendary Punch magazine.

Once again, I’m blown away that this was inside the Biblio-Mat as Punch has such a rich history behind it. Started in 1841, it was one of the premier humour mags of its time (think of it like an olden day MAD Magazine). It gave us Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (first published in serial form) as well as John McCrae’s ‘In Flanders Field’ poem, which almost every Canadian recites in school on Remembrance Day. Sadly, it folded in 2002.

While this anthology doesn’t have a publish date, it lists itself as the 15th volume and from the looks of it, I would guess it was from the 1950’s. With 266 cartoons, it is filled to the brim with dad jokes, way before they were considered dad jokes.

Vintage clothbound cover.

The colour-blindness joke is on the only colour illustration in the book.

Oh London...

"You may say I'm a dreamer..."

*facepalm*

*BA DUM TSS*

Moustache stroking should really be in here.

Received an interesting book from the Biblio-Mat? Submit it to submit@therandombookmachine.com

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