General S. W. Backus, Owner of *The Wasp*

This photographic portrait — not a cartoon plate — shows General S. W. Backus, proprietor of The Wasp, seated at an ornate roll-top desk in what appears to be his editorial office. Backus is dressed in a dark suit with a beard trimmed in the fashion of the 1890s professional class; his posture is composed, one hand resting near papers on the desk. Behind him, pigeonhole compartments and stacked volumes signal an active publishing operation. As owner, Backus presided over The Wasp during its peak years of chromolithograph satire — work that coupled sharp political commentary on Gilded Age corruption with anti-Chinese caricature.