Tregear's Black Jokes was a collection of more than 40 anti-black racist cartoons, published in London by bookseller Gabriel Shear Tregear in the 1830s. The cartoons could be purchased individually or in bound albums in Tregear's shop. Tregear published two series, Life in Philadelphia (1833) and Tregear's Black Jokes (1834), plus additional cartoons.
Life in Philadelphia (Tregear) Tregear's first series was published in 1833 under the name "Life in Philadelphia." This was the same name that had been used by American illustrator Edward Williams Clay for his 1828-1830 cartoon series, published in the United States. "The cartoons were so popular that the term Life in Philadelphia became a standard phrase to refer to fashions, trends, and—most especially—black Philadelphians' social practices and sartorial choices." In 1831, British illustrator William Summers redrew and enlarged ten of Clay's cartoons, which were engraved by Charles Hunt, and issued as color lithographs by London publisher Harrison Isaacs.
Of the twelve cartoons in Tregear's initial series, Summers designed and drew nine, two were reissues of Clay cartoons redrawn by Summers (from Isaacs), and Charles Hunt engraved all eleven as lithographs.Life in Philadelphia (London). from Library Company of Philadelphia. The last cartoon was credited as "Drawn & Engraved by I. Harris." "I. Harris" is now accepted as a pseudonym for Edward Williams Clay himself.Life in Philadelphia Caricature from The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Another eight of the Clay cartoons redrawn by Summers (from Isaacs) were soon reissued to expand the first Tregear series to twenty plates.Nancy Reynolds Davison, E. W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of the Jacksonian Era (PhD. diss., University of Michigan, 1980), pp. 85-100.
While the successful transfer of Clay's cartoons was attributable in part to the shared cultural backgrounds and common understandings of London and Philadelphia, the London cartoons took on a new meaning and form. London artists like Isaacs, Summers, Hunt, and Tregear made changes that signposted shifts in the cartoons' meanings, exaggerated the features of Philadelphian blacks even more grotesquely than had Clay, rendering them more bestial in anatomy and features.Jenna B. Gibbs, Performing in the Temple of Liberty: Slavery, Theater, and Popular Culture (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014).
Plate Title Image Artist Publisher Year Captions NotesNo. 1Dark ConversationWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear,London1833"Bery Black looking day dis Mons'r.""Yes Bery stormy. De Blacks flying about so make it Petickly Disagreable."No. 2An Unfair ReflectionWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1833"It was bery Unfair ob Mifs Carolina to Reflect on de Palenefs ob myComplexion. I consider dat I hab got a bery Good Color."No. 3The New ShoesWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear,London1833No. 4The Lub LetterWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear,London1833No. 5A Black ChargeWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear,London1833"Please y-'r Worship I hab taken up dis Nigger!! case he-'s -nebriated and-sulting to de Fair sec."No. 6The ValentineWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear1833"Holl'a! What's all dis about—'De rose is Red de Violets blue''De Debil's Black and so are You.'Well dat's bery Fair indeed."No. 7A Black Tea PartyWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear,London1833No. 8How you find yourself dis hot WeaderMifs Chloe?"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Edward William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 9Have you any Flesh coloured SilkStockings, young Man?"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Edward Williams Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 10A Black BallWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear,London1833No. 11Grand Celebration ob de Bobalitionob African SlaberyDrawn & engraved by I. Harris(Edward Williams Clay)G. S. Tregear,London1833No. 12Romeo and JulietWilliam SummersG. S. Tregear,London1833ROMEO._"How Silber sweet, sounds Lubbers Tongues by Night; likesorptest Music to attending Ears." JULIET._"Dou know'st de mask ob night is on my face, else would amaiden blush bepaint my cheek."
Additions In 1831, William Summers and Charles Hunt copied ten cartoons from Edward Williams Clay's Life in Philadelphia series for publisher Harrison Isaacs. Tregear's version of Life in Philadelphia initially reprinted two of the cartoons from Isaacs, but soon added eight more, bringing its number of plates to twenty.
At least two alternate cartoons, copied from Clay, were reissued by Tregear under the name "Life in Philadelphia."
Plate Title Image Artist Publisher Year Captions NotesNo. 13A Crier Extraordinary"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 14What you tink of my new Poke bonnet,Frederich Augustus?"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 15Hurrah! Hurrah for General Jackson!!"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 16Shall I hab de honour to dance the nextquadrille wid you, Mifs Minta?"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 17Is Mifs Dinah at Home?"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 18How you like de new fashion shirt, MifsFlorinda?"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 19Take away dose rosy lips."Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831No. 20How do you like the waltz, Mr. Lorenzo?"Engraved by Charles Hunt"(after Charles William Clay)Harrison Isaacs,London1831AlternatesThe Cut Direct: or Howto get up in the Worldunidentified(after Edward W. Clay)W. H. Isaacs,London1832Sketches of Character:At Home and AbroadH. Harrison(after Edward W. Clay)W. H. Isaccs,London1833
Tregear's Black Jokes Tregear's second series was titled Tregear's Black Jokes, being a Series of Laughable Caricatures in the March of Manners amongst the Blacks. It consisted of twenty new cartoons drawn by Summers and engraved by Hunt, and was published in 1834.
The second series was reissued in 1860 by London publisher T. C. Lewis.
Plate Title Image Artist Publisher Year Captions NotesNo. 1The PromenadeWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 2The Lady Patroness of AllblacksWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 3Marriage ala ModeWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 4The ChristeningWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 5Venus and AdonisWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 6The RouteWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 7The Card PartyWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 8The Breaking UpWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 9OthelloWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 10The ConcertWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 11Miss Whites Birthday PartyWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 12The Lubbers QuarrelWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 13BlackberryingWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 14Don Juan and ZerlineWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 15Cinderella and the Black PrinceWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 16The PortraitWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 17The First LessonWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 18The AdvertisementWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 19The Wedding FeastWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834No. 20The ElopementWilliam SummersG. S. Tregrear,London1834
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