Punch Magazine Published
On July 17, 1841, the first issue of the illustrated magazine, Punch, was published. Punch was an illustrated comedy magazine, which featured cartoons which satirized and critiqued key issues of Victorian society. One of the key contributors to the magazine was artist John Leech. The cartoons illustrated by Leech and the other creators for the magazine would regularly critique the wealth inequality and worker exploitation found in Victorian era England. These statements and critiques had the magazine deemed as a radical publication at the time, although the magazine’s harsh satire slowly softened into a more conservative outlook throughout the 1850s. The magazine also acted as a means for John Leech and Charles Dickens to work together on A Christmas Carol. Soon after the magazine’s debut, it began to be published by Bradbury and Evans, the same firm which Dickens would soon work under. Through this relationship, Leech was able to illustrate Dickens’ Christmas novella, which further explored the class issues found in Punch’s inception.
Sources:
http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/leech/leech.html