The trial of Dreyfus, Vanity Fair, 1899-11-23

''Vanity Fair'' was a British weekly magazine that was published from 1868 to 1914. Founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles in 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 and caricatures of famous people of Victorian and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

society, including artists, athletes, royalty, statesmen, scientists, authors, actors, business people and scholars. Taking its title from Thackeray's popular satire on early 19th-century British society, ''Vanity Fair'' was 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 of Benjamin Disraeli appeared. This was the first of over 2,300 caricatures to be published. According to the National Portrait Gallery in London, "''Vanity Fairs 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

Subtitled "A Weekly Show of Political, Social and Literary Wares", it was founded in 1868 by Thomas Gibson Bowles, who aimed to expose the contemporary vanities of Victorian society. Colonel

Fred Burnaby Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby (3 March 1842 – 17 January 1885) was a British Army intelligence officer. Burnaby's adventurous spirit, pioneering achievements, and swashbuckling courage earned an affection in the minds of Victorian imper ...

provided £100 of the original £200 capital, and inspired by Thackeray's popular satire on early 19th-century British society suggested the title ''Vanity 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 with serial fiction, word games and other trivia. Bowles wrote much of the magazine himself under various pseudonyms, such as "Jehu Junior", but contributors included

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

Arthur Hervey Arthur Hervey (26 January 1855 – 10 March 1922) was an Irish composer, music critic, and an expert in French music. Life Hervey was born in Paris of Irish parentage – his father was Charles J.V. Hervey who owned Killiane Castle in County We ...

, Willie Wilde,

Jessie Pope Jessie Pope (18 March 1868 – 14 December 1941) was an English poet, writer, and journalist, who remains best known for her patriotic, motivational poems published during World War I.''Minds at War'' the Poetry and Experience of the First worl ...

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

(who also wrote for the unrelated Condé Nast magazine of the same name) and

Bertram Fletcher Robinson Bertram Fletcher Robinson (22 August 1870 – 21 January 1907) was an English sportsman, journalist, author and Liberal Unionist Party campaigner. Between 1893 and 1907, he wrote nearly three hundred items, including a series of short stories th ...

(who was editor from June 1904 to October 1906). Lewis Carroll created a series of

word ladder Word ladder (also known as Doublets, word-links, change-the-word puzzles, paragrams, laddergrams, or word golf) is a word game invented by Lewis Carroll. A word ladder puzzle begins with two words, and to solve the puzzle one must find a chain of o ...

puzzles, which he then called "Doublets", which first appeared in the 29 March 1879 issue.

Thomas Allinson Thomas Richard Allinson (29 March 1858 – 29 November 1918) was an English physician, dietetic reformer, businessman, journalist and vegetarianism activist. He was a proponent of wholemeal ( whole grain) bread consumption. His name is still u ...

bought the magazine in 1911 from Frank Harris, by which time it was failing financially. He failed to revive it and the final issue of ''Vanity Fair'' appeared on 5 February 1914, after which it was merged into ''Hearth and Home''.

Caricatures

A full-page, colour lithograph of a contemporary celebrity or dignitary appeared in most issues, and it is for these caricatures that ''Vanity Fair'' is best known then and 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 international group of artists, including Sir Max Beerbohm, Sir

Leslie Ward Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (21 November 1851 – 15 May 1922) was a British portrait artist and caricaturist who over four decades painted 1,325 portraits which were regularly published by ''Vanity Fair (British magazine), Vanity Fair'', under th ...

(who signed his work "Spy" and "Drawl"), the Italians Carlo Pellegrini ("Singe" and "Ape"), Melchiorre Delfico ("Delfico"),

Liborio Prosperi Liborio Prosperi ('Lib') Liberio Prosperi (Foligno, 1854 – Foligno, 1928), was an Italian-born artist who belonged to a group of international artists producing caricatures for the British ''Vanity Fair'' magazine. He contributed 55 caricature ...

("Lib"), the Florentine artist and critic

Adriano Cecioni Adriano Cecioni (July 26, 1836May 23, 1886) was an Italian artist, caricaturist, and critic associated with the Macchiaioli group. Biography He was born in Florence into a middle-class family belonging to the local gentry. He began his artisti ...

, the French artists

James Tissot Jacques Joseph Tissot (; 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), anglicized as James Tissot (), was a French painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of fashionable, modern scenes and society life in Paris before moving to London in 1871 ...

("Coïdé"),

Prosper d'Épinay Charles Adrien Prosper Caïez d'Épinay (13 July 1836 – 23 September 1914) was a French sculptor and caricaturist (under the name Nemo). Many of his clients were from the nobility and royalty. He was sometimes referred to as the "sculpteur de so ...

("Nemo") and the American

Thomas Nast Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...

Image gallery

File:James Hamilton, Vanity Fair, 1869-09-25.jpg, The Duke of Abercorn by Carlo Pellegrini in the 25 September 1869 issue File:Benjamin Disraeli, Vanity Fair, 1869-01-30.jpg, Benjamin Disraeli by Carlo Pellegrini in the 30 January 1869 issue File:Nawab of Bengal.jpg, Mansur Ali Khan of Bengal by "Atn" Alfred Thompson in the 16 April 1870 issue File:William Thomson, Vanity Fair, 1871-06-24.jpg, William Thomson, Archbishop of York by Carlo Pellegrini in the 24 June 1871 issue File:VanityFair-Darwin2.jpg,

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

in the 30 September 1871 issue File:MidhatPashaVanityFair.jpg, Caricature of

Midhat Pasha Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha ( ota , احمد شفيق مدحت پاشا, 18 October 1822 – 26 April 1883) was an Ottoman democrat, kingmaker and one of the leading statesmen during the late Tanzimat period. He is most famous for leading the O ...

in the 30 June 1877 issue File:Thomas Hardy Vanity Fair 1892-06-04.jpg, Thomas Hardy caricature by Leslie Ward in the 4 June 1892 issue File:Carlo Pelligrini-Richard Owen Old Bones.jpg, Captioned "Old Bones", caricature of an elderly Richard Owen in 1873 File:Alexandre Dumas01.jpg,

Alexandre Dumas, fils Alexandre Dumas (; 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel ''La Dame aux Camélias'' (''The Lady of the Camellias''), published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's 1 ...

Théobald Chartran Théobald Chartran (20 July 1849 – 16 July 1907) was a classical French academic painter and portrait artist. Early life Chartran was born in Besançon, France on 20 July 1849. His father was Councilor at the Court of Appeals and he was the ne ...

in the 27 December 1879 issue File:Portrait of 'Steel' (4671260).jpg, Captioned "Steel", Sir Henry Bessemer by Leslie Ward in the 6 November 1880 issue File:Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Vanity Fair, 1894-06-07.jpg,

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

by "Spy" on 7 June 1894 File:Paul kruger00a.jpg, President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic by

in the 8 March 1900 issue File:Christabel Pankhurst Vanity Fair 15 June 1910.jpg, Suffragette Christabel Pankhurst in the 15 June 1910 issue File:Queen Alexandra, Vanity Fair, 1911-06-07.jpg, Queen Alexandra (unsigned) in the 7 June 1911 issue File:William-gillette-sherlock-holmes.jpg,

William Gillette William Hooker Gillette (July 24, 1853 – April 29, 1937) was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 ...

playing Sherlock Holmes, drawn by

in the 27 February 1907 issue File:Henrik Ibsen Vanity Fair 1901-12-12.jpg, Henrik Ibsen by "Snapp" in the 12 December 1901 issue File:Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) from Vanity Fair Issue 812, April 1884..jpg, Oscar Wilde by Carlo Pellegrini in Issue 812, April 1884 File:Horace Gordon Hutchinson, Vanity Fair, 1890-07-19.jpg, Caricature of golfer

Horace Hutchinson Horatio Gordon "Horace" Hutchinson (16 May 1859 – 27 July 1932) was an English amateur golfer who played in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Hutchinson won the 1886 and 1887 Amateur Championships. He had three top-10 finishes in ...

by Spy on 19 July 1890 File:Henry Irving Vanity Fair.jpg, Caricature of Henry Irving in the melodrama '' The Bells'', in the 19 December 1874 issue File:Pierre and Marie Curie Vanity Fair 1904-12-22.jpg, Caricature of

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

and Marie Curie in the 22 December 1904 issue File:WSGilbert by Spy.jpg,

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

by 'Spy', published on 21 May 1881 Winston Churchill Vanity Fair 1900-09-27.jpg,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

by "Spy", 27 September 1900 File:Mark Twain Vanity Fair 1908-05-13.jpeg, Mark Twain by "Spy" on 13 May 1908 File:Robert Baden-Powell Vanity Fair 19 April 1911.jpg, Captioned "Boy Scouts",

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the wor ...

in the 19 April 1911 issue

References

External links

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanity Fair (British Magazine) Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines published in England Magazine publishing companies of England Magazines published in London Publishing companies based in London 1868 establishments in the United Kingdom 1914 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1868 Magazines disestablished in 1914

History

Caricatures

Image gallery

See also

References

External links