Mucha (magazine)
 Mucha's cover page from 1871 | |
| Categories | Satire |
|---|---|
| Format | Magazine |
| Founder | Józef Kaufman |
| Founded | 1868 |
| Final issue | 1952 |
| Country | Poland |
| Based in | Warsaw |
| Language | Polish |
Mucha (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmu.xa] ⓘ) was a Polish satirical magazine published in Warsaw in the periods 1868-1939 and 1946–1952. In 1953 it was merged into another satirical one, Szpilki.[1][2]
History
The magazine was founded and edited by bookseller Józef Kaufman, followed by other owners, including Feliks Fryze, Władysław Buchner, Bolesław Michalski, Antoni Orłowski and Ludwik Nawojewski.[1][3] It included caricatures, jokes and humorous verses and short stories.
Title
While mucha means "fly" in Polish, actually the magazine was named after a daredevil acrobat Antoni Mucha, whose caricatures were prominent in the first issues.[1]
Contributors
Among its many writers, editors, and illustrators were Franciszek Kostrzewski and Bolesław Prus, however the vast majority of contributions were anonymous.[1]
Content
The pre-1939 version was known for its right-wing, nationalistic, and xenophobic topics.[1][2] The level of the humor was rather low;[1] examples:[4]
- – Doctor, please help. My wife ate too much during the holiday and now it hurts her!
- – Indeed?
- – No, in the belly!
- -
- – Mr. advocate, sir, did you have happy holidays?
- – They were happy for me, indeed: three cases of battery, two of insult, and three dozens of rejected promissory notes!
- -
- – Horror! Yesterday a young girl jumped from a bridge!
- – Did she fall in love badly?
- – No, in Vistula.
Scans of Mucha may be found in the searchable online library polona.pl.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Prasa satyryczna i humorystyczna w XIX i XX wieku" (Retrieved 18 January 2017)
- ^ a b "„Mucha”, czyli polskie „Charlie Hebdo” okresu przedwojennego" (Retrieved 18 January 2017)
- ^ ""MUCHA"". encyklopedia.interia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2025-04-29.
- ^ a b A scan of Mucha no. 13, 1894