A lubok is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. Lubki prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early examples from the late 17th and early 18th centuries were woodcuts, followed by engravings or etchings, and from mid-19th century lithography. They sometimes appeared in series, which might be regarded as predecessors of the modern comic strip. Cheap and simple books, similar to chapbooks, which mostly consisted of pictures, are called lubok literature. Both pictures and literature are commonly referred to simply as lubki. The Russian word lubok derives from lub - a special type of board on which pictures were printed.
The Mice Are Burying the Cat, a 1760s lubok print, has been commonly thought to be a caricature of Peter the Great's burial, authored by his opponents. The caption above the cat reads: "The Cat of Kazan, the Mind of Astrakhan, the Wisdom of Siberia" (a parody of the title of Russian tsars). Modern researchers have said that this is a representation of carnivalesque inversion, "turning the world upside down".
Koren Picture-Bible (1692–1696), Creation of Adam, p.6
The Valiant Knight Yeruslan Rescuing Princess Anastasia, an 18th-century lubok.
A Joker and His Wife. This 18th-century lubok is an adaptation of a German print.
Popular prints is a term for printed images of generally low artistic quality which were sold cheaply in Europe and later the New World from the 15th to 18th centuries, often with text as well as images. They were some of the earliest examples of mass media. After about 1800, the types and quantity of images greatly increased, but other terms are usually used to categorise them.
The Mice Burying the Cat, a 1760s Russian lubok hand-coloured woodcut. It probably originally dates from the reign of Peter the Great, but this impression probably dates from c. 1766. Possibly a satire on Peter's reforms, or just a representation of carnivalesque inversion, "turning the world upside down".
The Seven Ages of Man, German, 1482, British Museum
Der Große Komet über Prag, 12. November 1577, Zentralbibliothek Zürich
James Gillray's The Plumb-pudding in danger (1805), which caricatured Pitt and Napoleon, was voted the most famous of all UK political cartoons. Library of Congress
