Pictures by Phil May — Background and Themes

Section Breaks and Thematic Grouping

The book is divided into titled sections that group drawings by subject or setting. "Costers and Cockneys" focuses on street vendors and working-class couples, while "Brother Brushes" shifts to artists and their studios. "In the Bars and Streets" moves to public houses and urban encounters. This structure creates a loose narrative of London life, moving from domestic or market scenes to professional and leisure spaces. The sections are not strictly sequential; instead, they offer thematic clusters that allow May to explore variations on a theme. For instance, within "Costers and Cockneys," several drawings depict arguments or misunderstandings between couples, such as the woman who "chucked" a man for wanting to meet "incandescently." The grouping emphasizes recurring social types and situations.

Recurring Images: Hats, Food, and Drink

Certain objects appear repeatedly across sections, anchoring the drawings in a material world. Hats are a frequent motif: a woman exclaims "look at 'is bloomin' 'At," while another criticizes "'er frills" and being "hup like a bloomin' 'am bone." Food and drink also recur—tea, bread and butter, seedy cake, ham sandwiches, and coffee are mentioned in captions. These items are often tied to social rituals or class markers. In "In the Bars and Streets," a character invites another for a drink before an American tour, and a funeral is judged by its refreshments: "Tea and Bread and Butter!" versus "Seedy Cake an' 'Am Sandwich." The repetition of these images grounds the humor in everyday life.

Movement Between Scenes: From Street to Studio to Pub

The arrangement of sections creates a journey through different social spheres. The opening "Costers and Cockneys" places the reader in the street or court, with characters like 'Arriet and Bill. "Brother Brushes" then moves indoors to an artist's studio, where Royal Academicians discuss work and interruptions. The final section, "In the Bars and Streets," returns to public spaces but with a different tone—more focused on drinking, charity, and chance encounters. This movement suggests a widening of perspective, from intimate domestic disputes to broader social commentary. The transitions are abrupt, but the consistent use of dialogue and caricature unifies the scenes. May's drawings often capture a single moment, but the sequence of sections implies a day or a series of observations across London.

Dialect and Verbal Play as Structural Device

May's captions rely heavily on phonetic dialect and malapropisms, which serve both as humor and as a marker of class. Phrases like "Mos' 'tronary thing! a'most shertain th' was shome Coffee in it" or "I'll bloomin' well eat yer" are typical. This verbal play creates a rhythm that complements the visual gags. The captions often contain a setup and punchline, as in the exchange about the American tour: "Well, let's go in here and have a Drink before you go." The repetition of certain constructions—such as "Ow I s'y" or "Wot's th' row"—gives the collection a cohesive voice. The dialect is not merely decorative; it shapes the characters' identities and the humor of their situations. May's ear for speech patterns is evident, and the captions are as much a part of the art as the drawings themselves.

Readers approaching Pictures by Phil May will find a compact gallery of late-Victorian and Edwardian humor. The drawings reward attention to both the line work and the dialogue, which together create a vivid sense of character and place. Because the excerpts provide only captions and section titles, the full visual impact of May's caricatures must be inferred. However, the verbal wit and social observation are clear. This collection offers a glimpse into a specific time and milieu, preserved through the artist's keen eye for the absurdities of everyday life.

Leafing through Phil May’s cockney sketches, with their wry, weary humour, I found myself thinking of the quiet dignity in old weavers’ tartans. Both capture a people’s stubborn pride in small things. It reminded me of a gentle afternoon spent looking at Old and rare Scottish tartans — Themes and Context. Different cloth, same thread of belonging, somehow.