Grip (magazine)

Grip was a satirical magazine published in Toronto by John Wilson Bengough between 1873 and 1894.

Grip's first issue was released on May 24, 1873. The magazine's title was taken from the name of a raven in Barnaby Rudge, a novel by Charles Dickens. Its weekly circulation peaked at approximately 7,000 copies per week. Ramsay Cook argues that the magazine first entered mainstream consciousness during the Pacific Scandal.

Bengough took inspiration from the cartoons of Thomas Nast, particularly those mocking William M. Tweed, a Tammany Hall boss, that appeared in Harper's Weekly. Cumming argues that Grip was strongly influenced by Punch, a British magazine of political satire.

Mendelson suggests that Grip's political line was strongly influenced by the political economy of Henry George, who argued for free trade and a single land tax. Mendelson also points out that the publication espoused racist, antisemitic, and nativist views by perpetuating stereotypical portrayals of Black and Jewish people, non-white immigrants, and others. Grip generally had Grit leanings.

Thomas Phillips Thompson became Grip's editor in 1892 after Bengough was removed.

Sources

• Cook, Ramsay (1985). . University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5670-9. OCLC .
• Cumming, Carman (1997). . University of Toronto Press. doi:. ISBN 978-1-4426-7999-3. OCLC .
• Mendelson, Alan (May 2007). . Histoire Sociale/Social History. 40 (79): 1–44. ISSN .

Further reading

• Burr, Christina (December 2002). "Gender, Sexuality, and Nationalism in J.W. Bengough's Verses and Political Cartoons". Canadian Historical Review. 83 (4): 505–554. doi:. ISSN . S2CID . Project MUSE .
• Spadoni, Carl (1988). . Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada. 27 (1). doi:. ISSN .

External links

• Media related to Grip (magazine) at Wikimedia Commons
• via Canadiana.org