Railway Ribaldry by W. Heath Robinson
A loving and funny look at life aboard the company’s renowned trains, “Railway Ribaldry” includes some of William Heath Robinson’s own distinctive crazy contraptions. It is the ideal gift for any railroad enthusiast and contains almost 100 cartoons, featuring humorous depictions of the various tasks performed by railway police, the first “women only” carriage, and countless more “ingenious designs” and innovations.
Railway Ribaldry by W. Heath Robinson
Amazon.com
The Great Western Railway (GWR), which connected London to Wales and western England, turned 100 years old in 1935. To mark the occasion, renowned World War I illustrator Robinson created Railway Ribaldy. His cartoons offer political and cultural commentary on the GWR in particular as well as on railroads in general, and they imaginatively speculate on how they came to be an effective and comfortable mode of transit. In other words, with incredible machines that defy physics and the adaptation of some of the most bizarre social customs that have been making laughing readers sick to their stomachs for a century.
This selection of cartoons is top-notch. All thanks go to the GWR for commissioning this book and resurrecting artistic patronage. Of course, certain topics are funnier than others, but altogether, it is really humorous and a good tribute to both the patron and the artist.
