- This article is about the nineteenth century magazine. For the nineteenth century newspaper published in Nauvoo, Illinois, see The Wasp (newspaper).
The Wasp was founded as a weekly satire magazine by the Bohemian expat Francis Korbel and his two brothers in San Francisco in 1876. The magazine was somewhat unique at the time, owing to the Korbels' expertise in mass-producing color lithographs in print, a process they had come to master in their first business, the manufacture of labeled cigar boxes. The magazine was sold in secret in 1881 to Charles Webb Howard, who hired Edward C. Macfarlane as publisher. Ambrose Bierce was hired as editor soon afterward, serving as editor from January 1, 1881 until September 11, 1885.
Trivia
- The public domain collection of satirical definitions, The Devil's Dictionary, was a popular feature of The Wasp during Bierce's editorial tenure.
- Political cartoons from The Wasp are often cited in Asian-American anti defamation materials as an example of early stereotyping of chinese immigrants. It is often cited as "The WASP", but it's worth noting that some of the most egregious cases of stereotyping in political cartoons occurred under the editorial direction of the Korbels, themselves immigrants and non-WASPs.
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