Jokes Collection

The Bright Young People - mock Rayner-Ponsonby wedding
A group of Bright Young Things indulging in one of their many silly pranks, in this case a mock wedding where Elizabeth Ponsonby married John Rayner. The best man was Robert Byron

Anglo-Saxon by Bruce Bairnsfather, WW1 cartoon
" You re comin along with me, my lad, as soon as this is over!" (Hermann feels he DOES know a better ole). Cartoon by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather in The Bystander magazine showing his famous

The full range of Corsetry Puns and Underwear Jokes on this humorous Christmas Greetings card with a clothing theme. Date: circa 1906

The Dreadnought Hoax
THE DREADNOUGHT HOAX The Emperor of Abyssinia and his suite prepare to inspect the Royal Navy : Virginia Stephen (Woolf) on left, Horace Cole on the right Date: February 1910

RAF AT Aerial-Target 1922
A Man Holding the Tail of a Raf-At Aerial-Target 1922 Drone Uav on a Trolley, Later Launched Without-Undercarriage from Hms Argus Date: 1922

Gerhardt Cycleplane
Men Inspecting Crashed Gerhardt Cycleplane with Hangars Behind Date: 1920s

Polikarpov I-16 Type 24
Soviet Airforce Polikarpov I-16 Type 24 Rata Parked on Jacks for Maintenance Date: 1930s

The Dream of The Derby 1875
Racing down the track with thousands of spectators watching, at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey. 1875

GRAVITY ILLUSION
Gravity illusion at The Mystery Spot, Santa Cruz, California - the ball appears to be rolling UP the sloping plank Date: circa 1930

Theodore Hook
(1788-1841). He was an English man of letters and composer and briefly a civil servant in Mauritius. He is best known for his practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in 1810

Squadron Leader Sandbags and His Colleagues Waiting to ?
Squadron Leader Sandbags and His Colleagues Waiting to Be Loaded Onto Aircraft Practicing for Parachute Drops for Empire Air Day 1939 Date: 1939

Cesar Aeroplane-Mixte
Men Standing by the Half Airship / Half Biplane Cesar Aeroplane-Mixte with a Prini Berthard 50 HP Engine Parked Date: 1910

Avro 652 Anson
Two Rcaf No 7 Service Flying Training School Avro 652 Ansons Collided 50 Feet above the Ground and Became Locked Together During Glide Approaches to the Same Runway at Macleod, Alberta

Avro 621 Tutor Crashed Near a Railway-Line at Castle Donington - Flight Cadet Peter Vaughan of Ilford Received a Broken Leg and a Cut Chin and Was Taken to Derby Royal Infirmary Date: 1938

Avro 652A Anson 1 / I
Avro 652A Anson 1 Crashed into a Hangar During Take-Off from Croydon, UK on 8th March 1949 Date: 1949

Illustration of the Bird Man Hero of Restif de La Breton?
Illustration of the Bird Man Hero of Restif de La Bretonnes Book La Decouvert Australe of 1781 Taking-Off from a Cliff Edge with Umbrella & Basket Date: 1781

3D Stereoscopic Image, Scottish Troops Examining the Rem?
3D Stereoscopic Image, Scottish Troops Examining the Remains of the First British Aeroplane Brought Down by the Germans in WW1 Date: 1918

Boiled egg in an eggcup on a cutout New Year card. Date: circa 1890s

The Tatler front cover - Christmas Number 1937
Front cover of The Tatler magazines Christmas number featuring a jester laughing heartily. Date: 1937

Cartoon, Mr Punch painting a portrait of Shakespeare
Cartoon -- Don t you think it is just a little out of drawing, Mr Burnand? Showing Francis Cowley Burnand (1836-1917) as Mr Punch, painting a portrait of Shakespeare

Louis Wain, Daddy Cat - chatting with neighbour. circa 1910s

WW1 - Brother, Sister and partners before outbreak of war
A poignant and touching photograph taken on the eve of the First World War as two couples (a brother and sister (far left and second from right)

Caricature of F C Burnand, newly appointed Punch editor
Caricature of Francis Cowley Burnand (1836-1917), newly appointed Punch editor. He was also a comic writer and playwright. Seen here as Mr Punch himself, enjoying a nice bowl of punch. 1880

Caricature of the comic author Robert Reece
Caricature of the British comic playwright and librettist Robert Reece -- Jokes on Job or Hire. circa 1880s

Surprised young man on a Christmas card, with a comic verse. Its fun to put a pin on someones chair, but its a bit of a shock when you get told off for it. (2 of 2) Date: circa 1890s

Crackers by Charles Robinson
Children have fun pulling Christmas crackers, wearing the paper hats and reading the jokes that came out of them Date: 1906

Practical joke in university town, c. 1820
Students at Oxford or Cambridge play a practical joke on their professors by stretching a rope across a staircase and tripping them up, c.1820 Date: C.1820

WW1 - Cartoon - The Kaiser
WW1 - A cartoon illustrating mocking the Hohenzollern Kaiser (possibly German Emperor Wilhem II), illustrating the notion that in order to save himself

WW1 - Cartoon - Russians in England
WW1 - A cartoon illustrating Englands ignorance regarding Russia. The cartoon jokes about that the " Rooshuns", rather than Russians coming through England

At the Brewery Baths by Bruce Bairnsfather, WW1 cartoon
" You chuck another sardine at me, my lad, and you ll hear from my solicitors." High jinks in a brewery on the Western Front utilised as a baths for British soldiers

Emanuel Witz
EMANUEL WITZ no doubt he was one of the Witz : was he also one of the wits, one of those blokes whose ludicrous jokes have all his acquaintance in fits ? Date: 18th century

Belly Cold - Chinese man causes linguistic confusion
Chinese man causes linguistic confusion... " Belly cold today, miss!" " Well - why don t you tuck your shirt in?" Date: circa 1940

Humorous Pharmacy postcard
Young Boy: " Gimme three-pennorth of pills. Chemist: " Anti-bilious?" Young Boy: " No Sir - Fathers bilious!" Date: 1905

The Jester Knight. Alric the court jester uses his skills to distract robbers

Fun with a Spider
Fun with a spider Date: circa 1900

Employment of Women
A satirical look at the employment of women in the civil service. A bespectacled gentleman returns to the office and is horrified to find the ladies of his employ making pyramids of books

Schloss Hellbrunn, Austria
Hellbrunn Palace (Schloss Hellbrunn) - an early Baroque villa of palatial size, near Morzg, a southern district of the city of Salzburg, Austria

How John Bull Felt
After surviving the hundred pages of cartoons and skits showered upon him in our recent Special " Falling Pound" Number

No Joke! by Frank Reynolds
A humorous artist, stumped for further jokes on the subject of the First World War, wishes that peace would be declared so he could submit some of his new ideas

Devilish Funny Ha Ha
In Vienna statuettes of the devil are sold on 1 December but when an artist makes a life-size one for a client, returning late one night, he jumps from the window

Knighting the Sirloin
Henry VIII, dining with the Abbot of Reading, is so pleased with the beef that he knights it Sir Loin, a fine example of how royalty can get away with terrible jokes

Beringers Lying Stones
BERINGERs LYING STONES Beringer (d.1740) a scholar of Wurzburg, was taken in by stones apparently bearing strange markings but actually fabricated by his colleagues

Great Moon Hoax
THE GREAT MOON HOAX A scene of life on the Moon, alleged to have been observed by Herschel through his telescope; it was a journalists fabrication

Door Knocker Joke
Two small boys amuse themselves by knocking at a front door then running away - but this householder intends to rap the rappers

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