A complete run in 107 issues of the 19th century Spanish satirical journal, issues 8 pp. each and comprised almost entirely of political cartoons. Small folio (13 3/4 x 9 1/4 inches). Leather-backed boards, title stamped to spine. Some wear, abrasions, and losses to boards, especially to corners and edges, some wear and splitting of leather to spine, back cover board crushed along outside edge, interior pages with light consistent toning throughout, some light foxing, some pages with mild image transfer, first few pages loose from binding but present, light chipping at lower corner, overall good. Madrid, 1884-1887.

La Caricatura emerged in Spain in 1884, the creation of noted Spanish illustrator, cartoonist, writer, and graphic humorist Eduardo Sáenz Hermúa (1859-1898), also known as "Mecachis". His illustrations first appeared in the satirical journal La Broma, where he defined his personal style of political cartoons before launching La Caricatura. Along with the cartoonists Demócrito and Ramón Cilla, he was one of the main artists of that magazine.

From the first issue of La Caricatura, Hermúa was the lead artist and editorial director of the journal. Due to his work in La Caricatura, he is often credited as the creator of the Spanish cartoon. La Caricatura is seen as a Spanish counterpart to the well-known French satirical journals such as Le Monde Comique and La Caricature. According to an article by X. Antón Castro in the journal Arts, "The Spanish term most closely corresponding to the French concept of bande dessinée is the then nascent and incidental historia, which was subsequently expanded with greater precision in specialised journals in Spain in the final quarter of the nineteenth century in the form of caricatures or aleluya (auca), which earned a respectable status in the classic, ingenious humour of the draftsman Ramón Cilla, in Madrid society, especially in Mundo Cómico (1880) and La Caricatura (1884)...together with Apeles Mestres, Ramón Mescaler and Mecáchis were the major players in this graphic field and its most critical satirical conscience during the closing decades of the century, making use of kinetic signs, the first crude speech bubbles, graphic metaphors, and the expressive mobility of the figures..." (X. Antón Castro, "Journalism, Caricature and Satirical Drawings in Early Picasso", Arts, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2017)

An incredibly scarce early example of Spanish caricature; as of February 2026, OCLC does not locate a single holding of this journal in a North American library.

Book ID: 53643

Price: $3,000.00