Incline Press Launch New Letterpress Edition of The Tragical Comedy of Punch & Judy

Incline Press, one of the few surviving private press printers in the UK using entirely letterpress printing from metal type, has published The Tragical Comedy or the Comical Tragedy of Punch & Judy plus two other pamphlets.

Although Mr Punch's actual age is uncertain, George Washington and Samuel Pepys enjoyed performances of his story. More than a year in the making, the first part of this book is an edited text of a Punch & Judy show as it was observed by journalist John Payne Collier and published in 1827.  Punch arrived in England shortly before Pepys watched a show in 1662 in London, but at that time it was a marionette show and did not change to outdoor performances with the 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," said Graham Moss who runs Incline Press. "We have not altered the intent of the script, but have edited the repetition, and added 16 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."

The book 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. The edition is less than 160 copies with 20 reserved as unbound for binders to create with.

Also launched by Incline is a pamphlet of the poem My Orcha'd in Linden Lea by William Barnes in 1859 with title page illustrated with Helen Moss’ engraving of apple blossom, and The Owl & The Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear, all five illustrations being acrylic engravings by Helen Moss.