Japan Punch. A sequential run of 60 monthly issues, 1879-1883.

Yokohama : Charles Wirgman, 1879-1883. Complete five-year run of 60 monthly issues for 1879-1883. Five volumes quarto, later half red calf over marbled papered boards, spines lettered in gilt; each volume containing twelve issues retaining the original wrappers (but not the fukuro-toji style binding), each issue typically with between 10 and 20 unnumbered leaves, woodblock printed or (from 1883) lithograph printed recto only on washi paper, illustrated throughout with Wirgman’s satirical pen-drawn cartoons, with frequent annotations in pencil by the original subscriber, R. Rohde, identifying a large number of the key personalities depicted in caricature (eg. Beato, Kirkwood, Keswick, etc., etc.); clean and sound throughout, a highly desirable bound collection.

A complete five-year run of English caricaturist Charles Wirgman’s eccentric, satirical magazine the Japan Punch, the first European-language periodical published in Japan. The style of Wirgman’s cartoons, which came to be known as ponchi-e, or “Punch-pictures”, has led to it being widely considered a precursor of manga. 

The appearance of such an extensive, unbroken run of the Japan Punch is a rare occurrence in the market. The present collection is made even more significant by the fact that it is heavily annotated by the original subscriber, whose identifications of otherwise anonymous caricatures transform it into an invaluable resource for research into the international community in Japan during this period.

‘As a correspondent of the Illustrated London News, Wirgman traveled first to Malta, followed by the Philippines, China, and finally Japan in 1861. Within a year of his arrival in Yokohama, Wirgman was publishing his own magazine, which he called The Japan Punch. The irregular journal ran for 25 years, drawn exclusively by Wirgman. Printed on extremely thin, handmade paper, each issue was produced in an edition of approximately 200 copies, according to Hans Harder and Barbara Mittler, Asian Punches: A Transcultural Affair (2013).’ (Graphic Arts Collection, Special Collections, Firestone Library, Princeton University)

Provenance: private Australian collection.