Categories | Satirical magazine |
---|---|
Frequency | Weekly |
Founder |
|
Founded | 1884 |
Final issue | 1939 |
Country | Spain |
Based in | Valencia |
Language |
La Traca (Spanish: The Firecracker) was a satirical weekly magazine which was headquartered in Valencia, Spain. It existed in two periods between 1884 and 1892 and between 1909 and 1939. The magazine sold half a million copies making it the first satirical magazines with this circulation in Spain.[1] Its record was broken in the late 1976 when Interviú sold one million copies.[2]
La Traca was launched in 1884.[2] Its founders were Manuel Lluch Soler and Luis Cebrian Mezquita.[3] It came out weekly and was based in Valencia.[2] It held a republican political stance.[2] The magazine was folded in 1892 and was restarted by Vicente Miguel Carceller in 1909.[2][3] It was subject to frequent censorship during its existence and was permanently closed in 1939.[1][2] The reason for its closure was the publication of the caricatures of the Fascist dictator Francisco Franco.[3] Its editor Vicente Miguel Carceller was arrested due to these caricatures and hanged in June 1940 due to his anti-Fascist leaning.[3]
The magazine featured satirical material written in the Valencian dialect.[2] In 1931 the language of the magazine was switched to Spanish after which it sold more than half a million copies.[2][3] One of the contributors of La Traca was the illustrator Gaspar Méndez Álvarez whose anticlerical and political writings were published from 1928.[4]