Hope

Mrs Punch’s Letters to her Daughter by Miss Edwards
4 July 1868 – Dec 26 1868 

This first instalment of this series marked a momentous occasion for the magazine, being the first recorded contribution attributed to a woman in the Punch Contributor Ledgers. At over two columns long, more than a full page of the magazine, it was in no way a small contribution. It marked the beginning of a weekly series that ran over July and August, continuing at intervals through September, October, November and December.  There were 11 instalments in total.
This series represents ‘Hope’, hope for a new generation of women coming of age that their future may not be one constrained by domestic servitude.  But also ‘hope’ for the new generation of women contributors that were to being to write and draw for Punch.
For a close reading of this first series by Betham Edwards, see Horrocks and Moody (2020), details in Further Resources and Information.