Brian Maidment is Emeritus Professor of the History of Print in the English Department at Liverpool John Moores University and an ex-president of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals. His books include The Poorhouse Fugitives (1987), Reading Popular Prints (1996), Dusty Bob: A Cultural History of Dustmen (2007) and Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order 1820-1850 (2013). He is currently completing a book on magazine illustration between 1820 and 1840.