Biography:

Puck was a successful American humor magazine.  The staff was comprised of several of the nation’s most talented cartoonists, including Berhard Gillam, Frederick Opper, C.J Taylor, and, its founder, Joseph Keppler.  It was also the first American magazine to publish weekly color lithographs.
 
In 1876 Joseph Keppler and Adolf Schwarzmann founded Puck, as a German language humor magazine, and published the first English language version of the magazine in March 1877.  The magazine was named after a Shakespearian character from Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The magazine’s motto, “what fools these mortals be,” and its symbol, a chubby putto wearing a top hat, were printed on the cover of every edition.  A typical issue included a full-color political cartoon on the front cover, a double-page centerfold, several black-and-white cartoons, and editorials addressing contemporary issues. Puck’s political cartoons poked fun at politicians such as Ulysses Grant, James Blaine, William Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt, and explored topics such as immigration and political corruption. The magazine printed a hugely popular “tattooed man” series which poked fun at 1884 presidential candidate James Blaine.  Blaine was so enraged about the cartoons that he considered suing the editors of Puck for libel.
 
 
Schwarzmann took over full ownership of the magazine after Keppler’s death in 1894.  In 1914 Nathan Straus Jr. bought the magazine. Puck  was bought by the William Randolph Hearst company in 1916. The final edition was distributed on September 5, 1918.