The Comic History of Rome

First published in 1851, this is Victorian England's gleefully irreverent take on the rise and fall of Rome. Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, writing with the kind of knowing wit that defined the era's best periodical humor, tackles the founding myths, the kings, the republic, and ends at the Ides of March. He plays it straight while simultaneously winking at the reader, treating the she-wolf, Romulus and Remus, and the noble senators with a straight-faced absurdity that makes the whole thing sparkle. The real revelation, though, is John Leech's illustrations, which dress Roman patricians in top hats and togas, transforming ancient history into a deliciously savage caricature of Victorian society. It's a time capsule of Victorian humor, a send-up of classical education, and a surprisingly affectionate tribute to the ridiculousness of power, all rolled into one mischievous package. Whether you come for the jokes about Tiberius Gracchus or the illustrations of senators looking profoundly unroman, this is history served with a mischievous grin.