The Gallery of Comicalities: Graphic Humour, Wood-Engraving, and the Development of the Comic Magazine, 1820–1841

This paper considers the contribution of “The Gallery of Comicalities,” a feature published in the weekly Bell’s Life in London (1827–38), to the history of periodical illustration. The first part of this analysis considers the source of the “Gallery” illustrations, which were initially derived from previously published work by George Cruikshank but then commissioned from young draughtsmen. The second part suggests that these illustrations were more complex and socially engaged than commentators have suggested. The paper concludes with a discussion of the extent to which the “Gallery” contributed to social realist graphic reportage later in the Victorian period.