Punch in the air [antikvár]

Introduction Ever since man first climbed down from his tree, found the ground not all that it was cracked up to be, and gazed longingly aloft into the far cerulean welkin and its winging wildlife, he has been obsessed by a great dream. One day, somehow, he would overcome the extraordinary difficulties, and produce a book of aerial cartoons. There were, of course, two main problems: one was to invent a means of flying, and the second, far trickier, was to invent the humorous magazine. Not unnaturally, he managed the first far sooner: in 1783, the brothers Montgolfier rose in an aura of hot air, as one might expect fi-om the French, and flying was bom. It took another fifty-eight years to crack the secret of the manned humorous magazine. But, at last, in 1841, Punch got off the drawing board. Even more happily, it took the drawing-board with it, which is why this book is so packed with the brilliant comedy of flight. Which is something we'd never have had if we'd left flying strictly for the birds. AC.