Emoticon-like characters in The Humboldt Union, Kansas, May 14, 1881. via Yesterday’s Print.
More 1800s emoticons here,
Tag Archives: 1881
Emoticons from Kurjer Warszawski (5 March 1881) that depict joy, melancholy, indifference and astonishment just like these emoticons did a few weeks later.
via Wikipedia
These proto-emoticons were published in the satirical magazine Puck on 30 March, 1881. Although often described as the first emoticons, they seem to be a rip-off of a Polish magazine from just a few weeks earlier.
Read more or see more emoticons from the 1800’s.
Post updated in 2024.