Interview with Edward Linley Sambourne

Me: Hey! Glad you could make it. Have a seat right there. Thank you for coming.

Linley: Thank you for having me.

Me: Well basically I wanted to interview you and talk about your life and past life. I only have a few questions to ask you. I’ll try not to take up much of your time.

Linley: Oh, that’s okay. I don’t mind being here. I don’t have much to do anymore. (Because he’s deceased)

Me: Okay, well… first of all I wanted to get to know you a little bit. I want be able to get to know the real Sambourne inside.

Linley: K’, well…, first of all I’m an artist (laugh). I’m actually a cartoonist for the Punch magazine. I’ve drawn… well, actually all my life. I’ve drawn for Punch magazine and this one place called John Penn & Sons, which was an engineering firm in Greenwich. I didn’t really like it there. It was always so boring and tiring. I would always draw these doodles and funny sketches on my spare time. I worked as an engineering draftsman. I started workin’ there when I was sixteen.  I eventually stopped workin’ there and started workin’ with Punch afterwards (A& P Culture).

Me: Okay, well, what about your childhood. Did you have a huge experience as a child? Any accomplishments you made?    

Linley: Not really my childhood was basically normal. Um, let’s see…, I was born in Pentonville, London on January 4^th 1844 and was raised by my father, Edward Moot Sambourne and Frances Linley Sambourne, dad and mom to me, ha. I had gotten my middle name from my mother’s middle name ("Citizendia"). I had friends, went to school. I’ve never much went to art schools when I was a kid. I went to one in particular called South Kensington School of Art, but besides that I went to regular, normal schools like my one school called the City of London School. I would always draw these humorous, fanciful, as people would say sketches when I was smaller. I loved to draw. It was like a comfort to me. Something that I knew I could do.

Me: Cool, sounds like to me we actually have a lot in common. I like to doodle and draw here and there and my major is also visual arts.

Linley: Really! I say my dear that’s absolutely spectacular! (Laugh)

Me: (Laugh) Ok, anyways, I also wanted to ask you about who had helped you on your way to becoming such a success, about who developed your interests in art?

Linley: Well…, I jus’ taught myself over the time. Actually I learned mostly from my own eyes and my own intelligence and experiences. I also had some experience from working in the engineering drawing office. In there I learned how to handle a pen correctly and put that information to good use. I would always dabble a little bit here and there jus’ to see what I could do (Segal). When I was working with Punch I was under the influence of John Leech, Charles Keene ("Schoolnet"), and John Tennial. John Tennial was the man who I had taken the job afterwards when he retired but he was kind of like my mentor. When I first came there I had heard so much about him already. I had heard that his work was often controversial and he himself was socially sensitive. I’ve seen his work and it’s simply amazing! Besides that, that’s the only help I got- oh! and the inspiration of my parents to keep doing art. Of course, any parent pushes their child when they realize a talent like that.

Me: You said you worked with a John Tennial and then replaced him afterwards. Um…, how does it feel to…, be under such talent. Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Like that you were under a lot of pressure, because I’ve read the Big Bowl of Punch book and seen some other types of written and drawn art before?

Linley: No, not really. I felt as though I was part of the crew. There was a lot of talent, yes, but that type talent and pressure pushed me to do better and improve my art to become the best of the best there. I wasn’t the greatest artist at Punch but I did my best and worked as hard as could. I was jus’ happy to be there and finally get out of Johns & Sons (laugh).

Me: K’, then. What about Punch magazine? You’ve worked there and experienced the “life” there. What was it like being an artist with Punch?

Linley: It was fantastic! I loved it at Punch. The people there were nice and kind and had their own opinions. The one thing I loved about that job was that everybody had their own style of art. They’ve drawn their own drawings, painted their own paintings, and written their own poems and stories. Basically everybody had their own genre. Many of the people who worked at Punch had talents beyond imagination. Some actually went off to have their own work outside into the public aside from Punch and get other people to publish some of their art. I’ve made a few illustrations for a couple of authors myself.

Me: How would you describe your artistic style? What inspires you?

Linley: A lot of people say that I’m unique, different, have a way of making things pop out with realistic Quality, and some say that my work gives them a headache just looking at it (laugh), saying that I put so much detail and work into my art. They would say that my work is so perfectly and completely drawn, and yet others say that it may need some work to it. I like to take the criticism to help me improve my work. Their words… their meaningful words inspire me. They help me and push me to keep doing better and to keep drawing and creating art (he smiles). People like you who take an interest in a not so well known person like me, gives me hope and lets me know that there are people out there who actually know who I am and who recognize my art (chuckle).

Me:  Yeah, I’ve seen one of your illustrated books. It was called The Water Babies. It was really amazing! Your works in that book was just… magnificent, deligate, and very well detailed.

Linley: Thank you my dear.

Me: You’re welcome. We’ve been talking about Punch a lot lately so I was wondering how you would even get there, not that you’re not good enough but how were you employed at first?

Linley: (Laugh) Well actually I was discovered by Punch from the editor of the magazine, Mark Lemon. He saw my sketch, which was of John Bright, by the drawing being passed by Alfred Reed, a fellow office worker of my father, down to his father, who’s a friend of Mark Lemon. Lemon, as I remember, said that he wanted me on the magazine right away and said “The young man has a bright future ahead of him” ("Schoolnet") and after that I started workin’ with the Punch magazine under John Tennial and eventually replaced him. He was a good man by 1878 they were calling me the “cartoon junior”, which was second to John. I made my first drawing at Punch on… the… April 27^th 1867 issue, I think, called the Pros and Cons which Lemon, might I say, was very impressed with ("Citizendia").

Me: Do you know where the concept for creating “Punch” came from?

Linley: Punch Magazine was founded by two wonderful men, as I hear it. Henry Mayhew and Ebenezer Landells. They first called the magazine The Lord of Charivari, which sounded kind of sophisticated but pretty cool. It was named after the humor magazine in France called Le Charivari. Then they decided to change the name to Punch after Punch and Judy but also they named it for a joke that was well known around the work area that was “punch is nothing without lemon”. Lemon was Punch’s first editor (laugh out loud). ("Absoluteastronomy")

Me: How do you think Punch was received or viewed by the public?

Linley: Many employees of Punch Magazine wrote and illustrated works surrounding much of Britain’s economy, government, and politics. They also wrote about huge war conflicts outside of Britain, things that mattered. With great power comes great responsibility (laugh) which in “Punch” terms means just because you have a great job and are able to publish your work (sometimes) that doesn’t mean you can write about just anything. People will see your work and either they’ll like it or there will be much criticism and consequences, like being fired! (Laugh)

Me: Alright, you and Punch. Did you ever have any difficulties around your Punch job? Any struggles you had to overcome, that you had to push your way through?

Linley: Not necessarily. With me I didn’t really have any issues with trying to develop most of my career. With Punch itself, it had more problems. Punch magazine sold about 6000 copies a week but needed to sell 10,000 to cover costs ("Schoolnet").With Punch, much of Punch’s audience was lowering. It was lowering because, I guess, they just decided we were getting old and there were more, newer technology enhancements being formed, leaving us sitting there dumbfounded but, to let you know, we went way farther than any other comic magazine. We lasted pretty much very well for a good amount of time. If that’s not the main reason why we faded out and, ha, died, then it must be because of our opinions on politics and the world that much people didn’t agree with. ("Wikipedia")

Me: Well I have really enjoyed our talk and I want to thank you for taking the time to let me interview you. It’s been my pleasure to meet you and talk with you.

Linley: No, the pleasure was mine (big smile).

Me: Oh! And I was wondering if you could… well, make me a drawing. If there’s no trouble with that?

Linley: Ha, no problem what’s so ever.

Me: Cool!