The Carpet-Bag, Vol. II, No. 11

The Carpet-Bag, Vol. II, No. 11 (1852)

The masthead features an ornate decorative frame topped by a hand grasping a carpet bag, flanked by two vignette illustrations of domestic and street scenes. Inside, woodcut engravings accompany serialized fiction, comic verse, and satirical sketches—here depicting "The Force of the Law" and related legal absurdities.

The Carpet-Bag (1851–1853) was a Boston weekly humor paper edited by Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber, blending literary burlesque, tall tales, and visual caricature. It published early work by Mark Twain and Artemus Ward, establishing itself as a venue for comic writing that valued linguistic play and character over sensationalism. The paper occupied a middle ground between genteel periodicals and popular press humor, offering middle-class readers entertainment rooted in wordplay, social observation, and illustrated comic situations.