PUNCH & JUDY

The Tragical Comedy or the Comical Tragedy

No one knows for certain just how old Mr Punch is, but we do know performances were enjoyed by Samuel Pepys and George Washington, so long has he been popular!Over a year in the making, this is a book of many colourful parts. The first is an edited text of a Punch & Judy show as it was observed by journalist John Payne Collier and published in 1827.  Punch arrived shortly before Pepys watched a show in 1662, but at that time it was a marionette show, and did not change to outdoor performances with our familiar glove puppets until the end of the 18th century. Punch's roots are Italian and the list of characters and the events of the story have shifted like all oral traditions from this first recorded - and rather violent - script. We have not altered the intent of the script, but have edited the repetition, and added sixteen multicoloured illustrations of Punch’s victims, engravings made by Helen Moss, all printed by hand on a variety of presses in the workshop. 

To the illustrated script we have added the earliest known account of a Punch & Judy man, describing his career with all its trials and tribulations in his own words, as recorded by Henry Mayhew in 1850.

It is set in 12pt Scotch Roman type which was cast by Matt McKenzie at his Paekakariki Press in London, with handsetting, composing, design, press work and binding by Graham Moss. We have chosen to use Scotch Roman as alluding to the period of first publication, and for display have added a variety of rare Victorian display types, all printed from the metal as you should expect. This is our first book using John Purcell's new 170gsm Liber Charta, which we find most satisfactory. The edition is less than 160 copies with 20 reserved as unbound for binders to create with.

That’s the way we did it!