This book offers a multi-disciplinary visual analysis of British taxation history from Pitt's introduction of income tax in 1799 through to Lloyd George's Peoples budget in 1909. Focusing specifically on cartoons from the period, the book utilises the author's innovative PEARL methodology to analyse the impact of Publishers' attitudes, Editorial techniques, Artistic methods, Readers' responses, and Legal context on historical images published in this period.

The book outlines a financial and visual context for the period, discussing the importance of political cartoons during a period when the relationship between the state and the taxpayer was fundamentally shifting. There was a gradual increase in trust between government and the taxpayer over the raising and use of public monies through taxation. This included attempts to reduce the size of the national debt, whilst having to finance the ever-increasing economic impact of wars and are considered alongside an exploration of the recurring iconographical styles of the period. The book situates the visual history of taxation within a wider context of political images responding to fiscal events and uses the PEARL analysis technique to pinpoint nuanced and evolving public attitudes towards tax structures in Britain, as well as comparative developments in the US such as the impact of the Civil War and income tax debates. The book will be of interest to financial historians and academic cultural historians, as well as all those interested in visual culture and political imagery.

Henry Sless is currently a Research Associate at the Henley Business School at the University of Reading, UK. He received a Master's in historical cartoons from the University of Kent, UK, and a doctorate in visual images of finance in the Victorian era from the University of Reading.