One Hundred Comicalities

From the Strand, Vol. 34, 1907. Tit-Bits A popular weekly magazine, was founded in 1881 by George Newnes, the publisher of The Strand. It ceased publication in 1984. The original formula included jokes, quizzes, correspondence, short stories and serialized fiction, snippets of news, and cartoons 'from all the Most Interesting Books, Periodicals and Contributors in the World.'

“A fully equipped billiard-room has been discovered underneath his garden by a Brighton man. It had been sealed up for eighteen years. The oak paneling, billiard table, furniture, and fittings are as good as new.”

Many of the earliest cartoons published here may have come from the old broadsheet Comicalities published 100 to a sheet. Newnes must have had a huge collection of old cartoons which were pirated for use in his numerous magazines, boys story papers and comic periodicals.

W. Heath Robinson

Life's Little Interludes (14 Jun 1930) was the title of a British feature alternating between such great cartoonists as H. M. Bateman, Bert Thomas, Lewis Baumer, Harry Rountree, and Alfred Leete.

Mr. W. Heath Robinson and his Work, The Strand, Vol. 36 1908. Another of those great illustrated articles of prominent cartoonist illustrators from Newnes.

Spirit Dailies 1941

Another full newspaper page advertising The Spirit daily comic strip along with the first six dailies. Minneapolis Sunday Tribune and Star Journal, 2 Nov 1941. My stitching together of four photocopies left the 3rd strip a bit off kilter, but I have rescanned strips 1 and 2, skipping 3, then scanned 4, 5, and 6 for easier reading below.

W. K. Haselden (1872-1953)

The Satire of W. K. Haselden, the Daily Mirror's first regular newspaper cartoonist, from the Strand Magazine, Vol. 36, 1908. Haselden's Times obituary called him ‘the father of British strip cartoon,’ The topper illustration is from the Daily Mirror, 10 Dec 1919.

William Boucher

You might notice I am busy as a beaver re-configuring Yesterday's Papers. I have added a third column with the help of Three Column Blogger, and my old banner with the smiling wizzened visage of Aunt Judy did not translate well with the new size, thus, I borrowed a vignette from a color wood-engraving from the Blue Dwarf penny dreadful. Because I'll miss the old gel, I have posted this fine William Boucher drawing from the comic journal Judy, my original source, for nostalgia's sake. The little chap was Judy's Office Boy.

Ancient and Modern Times

My new little greeter illustration
comes from Harper's Weekly 31 Dec 1887.
The artist is a mystery since the
caption strip is not signed.

Illustrators of the Strand

Artists of the "Strand" Magazine, Vol. 10, Dec 1895. Top illustration by Alfred Pearse from Vol. 33 1907.











Bottom illustrations by Alfred Pearse

A Master Cartoonist

A profusely illustrated article on Charles G. Bush, "A Master Cartoonist" from
The World's Work, February 1903

The Egg Poacher

George du Maurier (1834-1896) is chiefly remembered for Trilby and his single-panel cartoons. He joined the staff of Punch in 1864, and by 1869 began to experiment with multiple panels, although most were more a series of vignettes on a theme rather than sequential. I wonder how indebted he was to the example of C. H. Ross’ gin-soaked Ally Sloper caption strips from Judy? Here are three of du Maurier’s brightest and funniest caption comics, all from Volume 56 of Punch. The hopper portrayed puts me in mind of Toad of Toad Hall as imagined by the brilliant illustrator and Punch cartoonist Ernest Howard Shepard.

Illustration above from In Bohemia with du Maurier, the First of a Series of Reminiscences by Felix Moscheles NY: Harper & Brothers, 1897