Biography:

A satirical, 16-page, well illustrated humor magazine, Frank Leslie’s Budget of Fun (1855- was the second publication of successful New York newspaper publisher Frank Leslie (1821-1880). Sold for six-cents a copy, the Budget became extraordinarily popular, beating out its many previously existing competitors: Yankee Notions, Nick-Nax for All Creation, Phunny Phellow, the New York Picayune, and the Comic Monthly. The paper was unabashedly political, unlike its competitors, with a strong democratic leaning like Leslie himself. The paper was generally suspicious of Lincoln, the Republican Party, and abolitionists. Once the Civil War began, the Budget aligned with the North but continued to comment on the inefficiency of the Republican war effort and provided a skeptic’s opinion to the success of emancipation. However, after Gettysburg, the publication became significantly more supportive of Lincoln. Budget’s audience began to dwindle in 1859 due to the success of the new weekly Vanity Fair.