The Carpet-Bag, Vol. II, No. 13

The Carpet-Bag, a Boston weekly (1851–1853), displayed its title in ornate letterpress flanked by woodcut vignettes of domestic and street scenes. This issue's cover features a large cartoon depicting a military enlistment scene: an officer presents terms to a prospective recruit while onlookers gesture and react. The publication mixed burlesque, tall tales, light verse, and satirical sketches—genres that shaped American comic literature. Under editor Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber, The Carpet-Bag published early work by Mark Twain and Artemus Ward, establishing itself as a literary humor weekly distinct from sensation papers. Its woodcut illustrations and comic narratives bridged the broadside tradition and the illustrated humor magazines that would flourish after the Civil War.