“Presented to the author by himself, as a mark of affection and esteem.
H.H. Munro”
― Dedication written by Munro on his own copy of The Westminster Alice
Tag Archives: Westminster Alice
F.C. Gould and Joseph Chamberlain
I wanted to some cartoons for teaching about the European politics in the 1930s so I naturally searched first for anything by David Low, the pre-eminent cartoonist in Britain from the end of the First World War till the early 1960s.
David Low, self-portrait [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Low_self_portrait.jpg
Among these, there’s a page on Francis Carruthers Gould, mostly forgotten these days (if you compare him with Hogarth, Gillray, Cruikshank or George du Maurier) but hopefully familiar to readers of Saki as the illustrator of some of Munro’s earliest publications. Apparently Gould was the first cartoonist to commit to producing a daily cartoon for the newspaper he worked for. According to Low, Gould’s particular bent was for drawing Joseph Chamberlain, whom he depicted in over a hundred different guises. The illustration in the book (reproduced here) shows a few of these. Observant readers will spot the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter from The Westminster Alice (blogged about elsewhere on this website).
Taken from British Cartoonists, Caricaturists and Comic Artists, by David Low (William Collins, 1942)
Here’s a drawing of Chamberlain, as “Brumbrumka, the Slim Fox”, from the first of Saki’s “The Political Jungle Book” stories (which I may post here some day).
Brumbrumka, the Slim Fox, as drawn by Francis Carruthers Gould in the Westminster Gazette.
Notes on The Westminster Alice by Ruth Golding
Ruth Golding, who recorded a (free!) audio version of The Westminster Alice for the excellent website librivox.org, also recorded some accompanying explanatory notes for the general reader. They’re available in both audio and text form on her website and also on archive.org. You can also listen to them below.
The Westminster Alice – online
The open access public domain repository archive.org has a scanned copy of Saki’s early political satires, The Westminster Alice (1902).
The link is:
Just acquired: The Westminster Alice
The Westminster Alice by Saki – cover
Saki’s earliest success – a series of sketches using Alice in Wonderland to satirise the politicians of the day. Illustrated by Francis Carruthers Gould.
For more information, including links to let you order a copy, go to http://www.evertype.com/books/alice-saki.html.