Vanity Fair, Vol. 6, No. 141

Wood engraving cover depicting Robert Bonner, driver of the celebrated "Ledger" team, shown as a dapper figure in top hat and tailcoat seated amid sketched horses and racing equipment. The masthead features playful letterforms with cherubs. Published by Louis H. Stephens, this New York comic weekly satirized Civil War–era politics, personalities, and society through caricature and verse. Vanity Fair (1859–1863) combined social commentary with humor during the Union's turbulent years, establishing a template for American comic journalism that would endure for generations.