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Early British Comics


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Randolph Caldecott Index
The Rivals
The Wynchdale Steeplechase (scroll sideways)
Our Haymaking
Carlyon's Christmas





Alfred Crowquill (Alfred Henry Forrester) 'Pantomime, to be played at home' 1849



George Cruikshank Index
'The Progress of Mr. Lambkin' (1844) A story told in 25 tableau-type pictures. Nice large scans.
'Premium Discount' Spoof on dangerous railways
Comparison with A.B.Frost (Two-panel cartoon which, it seems to me, must have been the main inspiration for a famous comic by A.B.Frost, part of which is shown)



Richard Doyle- Pleasure Trips of Brown, Jones and Robertson - from Punch, 1850



James Gillray - 'The Table's turned - Billy in the devil's claws / Billy sending the devil packing' Much more influencial than Hogarth or Goez were the thousands of British political cartoons. Most were just that, cartoons, meaning single image jokes. However, a huge number of them used (and developed the use of) speechbaloons. And a good number did in fact use two or more interdependant images to tell a story. (That means they were comics.)




William Heath - 'White Bait' (1830)
(a four-panel comic strip with speechbaloons)



William Hogarth 'The Harlot's Progress (1730)     small version click here
The famous 'progressions' by Hogarth were not actually comics. The images don't lead into and don't interact with each other. Each shows a distinct, separate stage of a longer story. However, because of their great popularity, they established the very notion of telling entertaining stories with a series of pictures and so became a highly influencial stepping stone for future developments.



Charles Keene (1823-91) 'The Adventures of Miss Lavinia Brounjones' (Punch 1866)




John Leech Index
Mr. Briggs 1850/1
Portrait of 1855 (in watercolours)
(Before and After) 1855
The Best Preventive against Sea Sickness, 1855
The Removal of the Snow, 1855
Noddy 1, (Mr. Tom Noddy's first Day with the Hounds after the long Frost) 1855
Noddy 2, (At the Seaside) 1855
Mr. Popplewit, - How Mr. Popplewit enjoyed a day's Rook Shooting, 1855




George du Maurier 'The Philosopher's Revenge' (Punch 1866)



Chas May Index
Un sac, un homme, un chien & un tonneau (from 'Album Noel', 1900)
Dans la cave (from 'Album Noel', 1900)




Charles Ross & Marie Duval - 'Ally Sloper' (reprint in bookform, 1867)
Pages 18-39
Pages 40-61
Pages 62-82
Pages 83-103
Pages 104-125
Pages 126-148
Pages 149-176
Pages 177-205



Thomas Rowlandson
Part 1 - 'THE TOUR of DOCTOR SYNTAX, In search of the PICTURESQUE'

This is not a comic. It's not even a sequential series of images, like a Hogarthian progress, or even illustrations of a novel. But it can be seen as a milestone in comics history, because of the influence on Rodolphe Toepffer, who imitated the type of main character, the drawing style and the general atmosphere of countryfied wackyness. The use and re-use of one striking visual character, generally recognized and popular, is certainly typical of many comics to come.
Part 2 - DOCTOR SYNTAX, In search of Consolation
Part 3 - DOCTOR SYNTAX - In Search of a Wife


James A. (Affleck) Shepherd (1867-1946) Index
Parrot and Dog (Boys' Own Paper 1891) (uses plot-relevant speechballoons)
Les Grenouilles et le héron (from 'Album Noel', 1900)



James Francis Sullivan




JohnTenniel (the illustrator of Alice in Wonderland, 1864) - Index
How Mr. Peter Piper Enjoyed a Day's 'Pig-sticking' 1853
How Mr. Peter Piper Tried his Hand at Buffalo-shooting 1853
How Mr. Peter Piper Was Induced to Join in a Bear-hunt 1853
How Mr. Peter Piper Accepted an Invitation from the Rajah of R. to Hunt a 'Royal Bengal Tiger' 1853
Mr. Piper (all on one page)
Mr Spoonbill 1855 These 19 panels were published as three installments in Punch. Nine years later Busch created his famous 'Eispeter' (Peter falls into the same type of hole in the ice and turns into an iceblock). As Busch had already copied Cruikshank's toothache, he possibly found some inspiration in this story as well.