ALARMED AUTOCRAT! 1891 Sir John Tenniel - Tsar Alexander III PUNCH CARTOON PAGE

Original 10 3/4 inch x 8 1/8 inch Single-Sided Wood Engraved Cartoon page titled THE ALARMED AUTOCRAT! from Punch, June 13, 1891.

Tsar Alexander III (1881-1894) was hostile to Jews; his reign witnessed a sharp deterioration in the Jews' economic, social, and political condition. His policy was eagerly implemented by tsarist officials in the "May Laws" of 1882. They officially blamed Jews for the Tsar's death. They banned Jews from inhabiting rural areas and shtetls (even within the Pale of Settlement) and restricted the occupations in which they could engage. The Russian imperial police strictly applied the anti-Semitic discriminatory laws, while the Russian media engaged in unrestrained anti-Semitic propaganda. In 1891, all Jews were systematically expelled from Moscow. These repressions embittered many Jews against Russian society, convincing many that Russia could no longer be their home.

The cartoon was wood engraved by Joseph Swain (1820 -1909) from an illustration by Sir John Tenniel (1820 - 1914), both were regulars on Punch magazine.

Punch, or The London Charivari, was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration.

The page is in very good condition. Reverse side blank.