L155 0 0

[_Note._--The schedule of documents and legal papers connected with
the matters here dealt with, now in possession of Messrs. Bradbury,
Agnew and Co., Ltd. (which confirm the particulars derived from
Landells' papers) are:--

1. The original Agreement between the original founders of _Punch_
already enumerated. This is dated July 14th, 1841--only three days
before the appearance of the paper. It is printed at length as
Appendix 1 to this volume.

2. Agreement between Bradbury and Evans and "Punchites," whereby in
consideration of a loan of L150 the printing of the paper is
assured to the firm. This is dated Oct., 1841, the signatories
being E. Landells, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, and Stirling Coyne,
with W. H. Wills and G. Windsor as witnesses.

3. The assignment to Landells of _Punch_ and the stock-in-trade by
Lemon, Mayhew, and Stirling Coyne. Dated December 6th, 1841.

4. Assignment to Bradbury and Evans by Landells of his two-thirds
share of _Punch_. Dated, July 25th, 1842.

5. Assignment of his remaining one-third to Bradbury and Evans by
Landells, in consideration of L100 cash and their acceptance for
L250 due Jan. 31st, 1843, their mortgage on this share to be
cancelled. This deed is dated Dec. 29th, 1842, and is in the terms
of Landells' letter of agreement of the previous 24th.]

The new proprietors, when they acquired their interest in _Punch_, were
not then distinguished publishers such as they soon became; they were
essentially printers, and had few connections to assist them in making
it into a paying property. They had, however, W. S. Orr & Co. (the
London agents of Chambers, of Edinburgh), who had fallen into financial
difficulties, and looked to Bradbury and Evans to help them out; and
through their organisation _Punch_ was taken up by the trade "on sale or
return." To work up the sale of a threepenny publication was at that
time a formidable task; but Orr certainly accomplished it, and for a
time _Punch_ undoubtedly owed more to his efforts than to Jerrold's pen
or Leech's pencil. The head of the firm, in both senses, was William
Bradbury, the keenest man of business that ever trod the flags of Fleet
Street, and the founder of a dynastic line nearly as long and eminent as
that of John Murray himself. His portrait may be seen in _Punch_ more
than once--for exam