The nineteenth-century satirical press is a unique and somewhat underutilised source for examining almost any facet of Victorian culture and politics. The number of satirical newspapers in print for at least a few months varied by decade over the course of the century, beginning as a mere handful in the 1810s and 1820s, expanding into the twenties in the 1830s and 1840s, declining in the 1850s, and then growing fairly steadily from the mid- to late 1860s, with at least fifty or so titles in print at some point over the course of each of the last three decades of the century. These periodicals have interested scholars for some time, but most researchers have overwhelmingly focused on papers’ weekly cuts, or full-page editorial cartoons. These cartoons are often eye-catching, fascinating and sometimes quite humorous (although probably not in the same manner as to contemporaries), but the weekly comic newspapers present so much more. Each issue of Punch or rivals such as Judy, Fun or Funny Folks, contained a rich collection of jokes, puns, poems, songs and illustrations that reveal the boundaries, character and evolution of a shared popular culture. A close reading of the Victorian satirical press, particularly of the interplay and tension between text and images, illuminates key aspects of the material culture, social customs and worldviews of its middle-class, urban readers. In addition, these comic papers also offer invaluable information on the political conventional wisdom of their era, helping us to better understand the political and social context in which domestic and foreign policy was crafted.

Published weekly or sometimes monthly, the content of the satirical newspapers was relatively consistent, at least from the 1830s. Most contained a weekly or big cut, a full- or two-page cartoon which typically commented on the dominant political news story of the week. These included parliamentary manoeuvrings, social reform, and foreign or imperial affairs. The weekly cut was not the only cartoon, however, as most featured a number of illustrated jokes, single- and multiple-panel cartoons, and comic illustrations of varying size and design. The bulk of each issue was of course print – jokes of varying lengths, parodies of popular literature or drama, puns and wordplay, dialogues, plays of one to three acts, poems, fake letters and correspondent reports, diaries, fictional documents and other items.