Punch's Pocket Book Archive

The front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper published Saturday 25 August, 1917, featuring portraits of 'Women in the Order of the British Empire', including Lady Byron, the honourable Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, Her Majesty the Queen.

Apply for our PhD placement scheme to get involved in extraordinary research at the Library. There are eight available placements exploring a variety of themes including war poetry, 21st-century digital tools, illustrated newspapers and decarbonisation.

Find out more: link.bl.uk/PhDPlacements

An automaton fuelled by tomes of newly available knowledge sweeps away the old society. No, not a self-portrait by ChatGPT in the style of a Georgian satirical print, but one of several “March of Intellect” cartoons published ca. 1828: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/march-of-the-intellect

On left, burgundy background with text that says: Sofie Vandepitte, “Images of Welsh Seaside Tourism in Punch, or the London Charivari, 1841–1900,” Victorian Periodicals Review, volume 58, number 2, summer 2025. On right, illustration of crowded tourist spot titled “Mr. Punch Visits Scarborough Spa,” from Punch, or the London Charivari, October 10, 1891, 178, HathiTrust Digital Library, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$c190182.

In VPR 58.2, Sofie Vandepitte dives into Punch’s satire of British #seaside #tourism for the elite and lower classes. Discover how #Punch represented Welsh resorts as loci of both decadence and primitiveness: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Working on Victorian graphic art often brings wonderful surprises like this sketch of Alice and the dodo in one of Tenniel's sketchbooks, ca. 1865.

From the Harry Elkins Widener collection at the Houghton Library, @harvard.edu

Pleased as Punch to see that our retrospective of the "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archives" study day we held at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social last month is now online on @rs4vp.org's website! Wonderful speakers, keynotes and audience. Thank you all!

Just a cat playing with a yarn ball, in a pocket book.

From John Leech's frontispiece to Punch's Pocket Book for 1852.

"Mr Ritchee's dinner - Where I almost took too much wine. Very good."
W. M. Thackeray, almost drunk.

Punch's Pocket Book for 1856, at the NYC Public Library.

Dickens's chair and desk, here at the New York Public Library.

Punch's Pocket Book entry of the day:
"Music at home. Used 12 sherry, 2 mead, 2 claret, 3 port, 9 champagne."

Pity I could not attend that performance.

Punch's Pocket Book entry of the day: 'Nothing particular - Oyster dinner.' That may well be the title of my next paper.
Fantastic day at the Robert D. Farber Archives and Special Collections, Brandeis University.

The great news of the day is that the New York Public Library holds W. M. Thackeray's very own Punch's Pocket Book for 1856, with ms. annotations about 'the fat of the land, claret in plenty & smoking too much.'
What's not to like? Made an appointment to consult the resource next week.

OMG, who was killed on that book?

Want to have your eyesight tested gratis?
Read Punch's Pocket Book for 1856! 🔍 👓

That section is bound to expand in the coming years, thanks to our new resources :)

Punch's Pocket Book Archive project as seen through Voyant Tools.

Many thanks to our wonderful speakers and audience, last Friday at the British Library, for our "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive" event.
Punch's Pocket Book Archive is now entering its second phase: keep in touch!

What a surprise to find a collection of Punches, today, on the shelves of the beautiful Kenwood House!

One of the treasures of the museum's storage room was a box full of Linley Sambourne's own Punch's Pocket Books, several of which are annotated.

Sounds really fascinating!

What's not to like about this amazing opportunity for a dedicated periodicals studies scholar! Apps due by Oct 15.

RSVP Annual Conference – RSVP The nineteenth century was marked by unprecedented migration, as people moved to urban centers; were forcibly or semi-forcibly relocated; and emigrated to escape war, famine, economic instability, or…

✨ It's official! We're now accepting proposals for #RSVP2026, "Movements and Migrations"! We invite scholars to examine the relationship between periodicals, migrations, and movements for our 2026 conference in Dublin. Full CFP and more details on our main website.

Front pages of many local alternative and community newspapers - Archiving the people's papers - learning from Leeds, Liverpool & Birmingham

Looking forward to this online event in September, thanks to @feministcity.bsky.social, @wcmlibrary.bsky.social among others.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archiving-...

Lewis Carroll's original sepia ink illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/carroll-illustrations-for-alice-undergound @britishlibrary

Only a few days left to register for our "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive" study day, to be held at the #BritishLibrary on November 7.

Information and registration here: pictorial-punch.sciencesconf.org/registration

Pleased to announce that registration for the "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive" study day at the British Library (Nov. 7, 2025) is now open.
Information can be found on the event website, including a link to the registration page. Please note that the registration deadline is 31 August

Transnational Popular Print in the Long Nineteenth Century: Reading Across Borders, Genres and Histories On Wednesday April 2nd, Manchester Metropolitan University hosted the engaging hybrid research seminar “Transnational Popular Print in the Long Nineteenth Century.” Drawing together scholars from across the university and beyond, the event explored the international networks, subversive aesthetics and marginalised voices...

Thx to our amazing intern Ellie Croot for her post on the @punchspocketbook.bsky.social blog re LNCN's latest research event. Ellie soon starts a new research internship at the University of Oxford on 'Slave Trade and Plantation Management: The Barham Papers (1792-1820)'. 👏
ppbka.hypotheses.org/1711

CFP: Special VPR Issue (Winter 2026) – RSVP Call for proposals for a special issue of VPR honoring the late Brian Maidment! Proposals due May 15, 2025 and will be published Winter 2026.

CFP: Essays in Honor of Brian Maidment (Proposals due May 15; Essays due Nov. 1). Guest editors Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge invite proposals for a special issue of VPR. For full details, visit rs4vp.org/cfp-vpr-spec... @rs4vp.bsky.social

Punch's Pocket Book Archive team is thrilled to announce that we have received a grant from the @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social for the organisation of our 'Pictorial Punch – Treasures from the Archive' study day at the britishlibrary.bsky.social

CFP available here: eribia.unicaen.fr/evenement/pi...

The Punch's Pocket Archive team is organising a study day at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social on November 7, 2025, and we would be delighted to receive a paper proposal from you!

“Pictorial Punch – Treasures from the Archive”

The call is available here:
eribia.unicaen.fr/evenement/pi...

Pleased as Punch to discover these wonderful (but hitherto unlisted) collections in @universite-caen.bsky.social's Victorian collections!