About this book
M. P.'s in Session From Mr. Punch's Parliamentary Portrait Gallery by Harry Furniss skewers Victorian politics with razor-sharp caricature and affectionate mockery, offering a vivid window into the personalities who shaped late-19th-century Britain.
A collection of illustrated portraits and captions originally published in Punch, Furniss’s work blends Politics, Biography, and Art to capture the cadence, quirks, and theatricality of the House of Commons. Across a parade of statesmen—Gladstone, Chamberlain, Balfour and many lesser-known figures—the book records public gestures, parliamentary foibles and the era’s debate-driven drama through expressive line work and satirical commentary. More than simple caricature, these portraits function as social history: they reveal how political identity, media and popular taste intersected in the age of mass print and party rivalry. Furniss’s drawings illuminate Victorian attitudes to reform, rhetoric and public image while showcasing the illustrator’s technical skill and comic timing.
Perfect for listeners who love political satire, Victorian biography, art history or the history of the press, this audiobook brings together visual wit and historical insight—ideal for anyone curious about how caricature shaped public opinion and personality in a pivotal moment of British politics.
