Punch, or the London Charivari. Volume 1, July 31, 1841

The very first issue of the magazine that would define British satire for over a century. Launched in 1841, Punch (formally 'Punch, or the London Charivari') became the template for every political cartoon and satirical publication that followed, coining the very word 'cartoon' in its visual sense. This founding number collects the sketches, verses, and lampoons that announced a new voice in English wit: irreverent, sharply observed, and gleefully hostile to pretension in all its forms. Here are lampoons of temperance fanatics and pompous civic leaders, comic verses skewering the absurdities of daily life, and the early stirrings of illustrations that would later include John Tenniel (who drew Alice) and George du Maurier. The targets are Victorian, but the game is eternal: whoever holds power deserves to be mocked, and no institution is safe from a well-turned phrase. This is where modern satire begins.