Vanity Fair(British magazine)

This article is about the British magazine published from 1868 to 1914. For otherVanity Fairmagazines, seeVanity Fair (magazines).

Winter supplement (23 November 1899); caricature ofthe trial of Dreyfus

Vanity Fairwas a British weekly magazine that was published from 1868 to 1914. Founded byThomas Gibson Bowlesin London, the magazine included articles on fashion, theatre, current events as well as word games and serial fiction. The cream of the period's "society magazines", it is best known for its witty prose andcaricaturesof famous people ofVictorianandEdwardiansociety, including artists, athletes, royalty, statesmen, scientists, authors, actors, business people and scholars.

Taking its title fromThackeray's popular satireon early 19th-century British society,Vanity Fairwas not immediately successful and struggled with competition from rival publications. Bowles then promised his readers "Some Pictorial Wares of an entirely novel character", and on 30 January 1869, a full-page caricature ofBenjamin Disraeliappeared. This was the first of over 2,300 caricatures to be published. According to theNational Portrait Galleryin London, "Vanity Fair's illustrations, instantly recognizable in terms of style and size, led to a rapid increase in demand for the magazine. It gradually became a mark of honour to be the 'victim' of one of its numerous caricaturists. Bowles's witty accompanying texts, full of insights and innuendoes, certainly contributed towards the popularity of these images ".

History

When the history of the Victorian Era comes to be written in true perspective, the most faithful mirror and record of... the spirit of the times will be sought and found inVanity Fair.

—Vanity Fairillustrator"Spy".

Subtitled "A Weekly Show of Political, Social and Literary Wares",it was founded in 1868 byThomas Gibson Bowles,who aimed to expose the contemporary vanities ofVictoriansociety. ColonelFred Burnabyprovided £100 of the original £200 capital, and inspired byThackeray's popular satireon early 19th-century British society suggested the titleVanity Fair.The first issue appeared in London on 7 November 1868. It offered its readers articles on fashion, current events, the theatre, books, social events and the latest scandals, together withserial fiction,word gamesand other trivia.

Bowles wrote much of the magazine himself under various pseudonyms, such as "Jehu Junior", but contributors includedLewis Carroll,Arthur Hervey,Willie Wilde,Jessie Pope,P. G. Wodehouse(who also wrote for the unrelatedCondé Nast magazine of the same name) andBertram Fletcher Robinson(who was editor from June 1904 to October 1906).Lewis Carroll created a series ofword ladderpuzzles, which he then called "Doublets", which first appeared in the 29 March 1879 issue.

Thomas Allinsonbought the magazine in 1911 fromFrank Harris,by which time it was failing financially. He failed to revive it and the final issue ofVanity Fairappeared on 5 February 1914, after which it was merged intoHearth and Home.

Caricatures

Main article:Vanity Fair caricatures

A full-page, colour lithograph of a contemporary celebrity or dignitary appeared in most issues, and it is for thesecaricaturesthatVanity Fairis best known thenand today.Subjects included artists, athletes, royalty, statesmen, scientists, authors, actors, soldiers, religious personalities, business people and scholars. More than two thousand of these images appeared, and they are considered the chief cultural legacy of the magazine, forming a pictorial record of the period. They were produced by an internationalgroup of artists,including SirMax Beerbohm,SirLeslie Ward(who signed his work "Spy" and "Drawl" ), the ItaliansCarlo Pellegrini( "Singe" and "Ape" ),Melchiorre Delfico( "Delfico" ),Liborio Prosperi( "Lib" ), the Florentine artist and criticAdriano Cecioni,the French artistsJames Tissot( "Coïdé" ),Prosper d'Épinay( "Nemo" ) and the AmericanThomas Nast.

Image gallery

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  The Duke of AbercornbyCarlo Pellegrini( "Ape" ) in the 25 September 1869 issue
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  Benjamin Disraeliby Carlo Pellegrini in the 30 January 1869 issue
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  Mansur Ali Khan of BengalbyAlfred Thompson( "Ἀτη" ) in the 16 April 1870 issue
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  William Thomson, Archbishop of York,by Carlo Pellegrini in the 24 June 1871 issue
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  Charles DarwinbyJames Tissot( "Coïdé" ) in the 30 September 1871 issue
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  Caricature ofMidhat PashabyLeslie Ward( "Spy" ) in the 30 June 1877 issue
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  Thomas Hardycaricature by Leslie Ward in the 4 June 1892 issue
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  Captioned "Old Bones", caricature of an elderlyRichard Owenin 1873
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  Alexandre DumasfilsbyThéobald Chartranin the 27 December 1879 issue
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  Captioned "Steel", SirHenry Bessemerby Leslie Ward in the 6 November 1880 issue
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  Rudyard Kiplingby Leslie Ward on 7 June 1894
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  PresidentPaul Krugerof theSouth African Republicby Leslie Ward in the 8 March 1900 issue
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  SuffragetteChristabel Pankhurstin the 15 June 1910 issue
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  Queen Alexandra(unsigned) in the 7 June 1911 issue
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  William GilletteplayingSherlock Holmes,drawn by Leslie Ward in the 27 February 1907 issue
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  Henrik Ibsenby "Snapp" in the 12 December 1901 issue
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  Oscar Wildeby Carlo Pellegrini in issue 812, April 1884
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  Caricature of golferHorace Hutchinsonby Leslie Ward on 19 July 1890
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  Caricature ofHenry Irvingin the melodramaThe Bells,in the 19 December 1874 issue
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  Caricature ofPierreandMarie Curiein the 22 December 1904 issue
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  W. S. Gilbertby Leslie Ward, published on 21 May 1881
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  Winston Churchillby Leslie Ward, 27 September 1900
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  Mark Twainby Leslie Ward on 13 May 1908
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  Captioned "Boy Scouts",Robert Baden-Powellin the 19 April 1911 issue

See also

• List ofVanity Fairartists
• List ofVanity Faircaricatures
• The Rowers ofVanity FairWikibook gives a history of the magazine with focus on sportsmen

External links

• Vanity Fair cartoons: chromolithographs by various artists 1869-1914,UK:National Portrait Gallery.