Vanity Fair was a British weekly magazine published in London from 1868 to 1914. Founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles, it featured articles on fashion, theatre, current events, and serial fiction, alongside word games. The magazine included satirical caricatures of figures in Victorian and Edwardian society, such as statesmen, artists, scientists, and royalty. The first caricature, a full-page depiction of Benjamin Disraeli, appeared on 30 January 1869, initiating a series of over 2,300 such illustrations that became a defining feature of the publication.
The caricatures, executed in a style that became widely recognized, were accompanied by witty, often incisive texts. The magazine’s illustrations, printed in chromolithography, used bold outlines and exaggerated features to convey humor and critique.
Subjects included political figures like Napoleon III and Isabella II, as well as cultural figures, reflecting the period’s social hierarchies. The National Portrait Gallery in London holds many of these works, which contributed to the magazine’s influence and made inclusion in its pages a notable achievement of the time.
