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The Summer Number Big Budget. London: 28 Maiden Lane [C. Arthur Pearson]. Vol. 13, no. 317. 11 July 1903.

“Bold bad tramp” Airy Alf plays a trick on his erstwhile pal Bouncing Billy, who – improbable though it may seem – has just obtained a job on the local police force, a short-lived job thanks to Alf’s intervention. This set is signed “Yorick”, real name Ralph Hodgson, who at the time was also the art editor of The Big Budget. Alf and Bill, another duo invented by Tom Browne (in 1897), started their comics existence as cycling enthusiasts, but in the hands of Hodgson (from 1898 on) they soon became tramps and layabouts. The series expired in 1908.

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