Illustrated London News
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THE
ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS
THE
GRAPHIC, THE ILLUSTRATED TIMES
ILLUSTRATED
SPORTING AND DRAMATIC NEWS Etc
From 1842
to c.1899.
Summary of Information on this Page
The
Founder (Herbert Ingram) and success of The
Illustrated London News
The
Printing Processes Used
Paper
Used
The
Graphic
The
Illustrated Times
The
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
The Founder
(Herbert Ingram) and Success of The Illustrated London
News (ILN)
Mr.
Herbert INGRAM
On the 14th May,
1842, the era of pictorial journalism began !
Herbert INGRAM was
born in 1811, in Boston, in the county of Lincolnshire, England.
He left school at 14 to become an apprentice to a local printer.
At age of 20, Ingram moved first to London, then to Nottingham,
where he started his own business as a newsagent and bookseller,
in partnership with his brother in law, Nathaniel COOKE.
The newsagent
business failed to make much progress until Ingram purchased the
rights to a Laxative - known as Parr's Life Pills. The profits
from marketing these pills provided the profits which enabled him
to set up and publish The Illustrated London News. He
employed leading artists of the day to illustrate social events,
news stories, towns and cities, indeed the whole spectrum of
Victorian England was to be recorded pictorially in the ILN
for many decades to come. Illustrations came from all corners of
the globe. Events such as the American Civil War were depicted
and profusely illustrated. The ILN is still published
today.
So successful was the
ILN, its formula was copied in many countries of the
world. In America, notably by Harpers and by Frank
Leslie in his various publications.
You may be interested
in this page: Illustrated Papers of the World
It appeared in The
Graphic on 6th December 1890. It summarised the many similar
publications available throughout the world at that time.
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PRINTING
PROCESSES:
RELIEF (Wood engravings) - used until
c.1880.
For a more
comprehensive study of the history and practice of Wood Engraving
CLICK HERE
These involved using
wood as the material on which the image to be printed was created
from the artist's drawing.
The wood was cut away
from the area which was not to be printed, leaving the
image to be printed standing up from the 'block', as it was
called. For larger illustrations, several smaller blocks were
made and then joined to form a single, larger print.
LITHOGRAPHY
(Surface printing) -
introduced c.1880.
Although this process
was invented at the end of the 18th century, it did not see
common use until the latter part of the 19th century, when it was
adapted to mechanisation.
The design was drawn
on to a flat stone surface, using a greasy ink, which was then
'fixed' chemically.
To read more about other methods of
printing used before the 20th century CLICK HERE
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PAPER:
The paper used by the
Illustrated London News and other papers of the day, was
a wood pulp made using one the numerous chemical processes first
developed around 1800. Early issues used unglazed papers, whilst
later ones had a much smoother glazed surface, which presented
the illustrations in a finer way.
Typical weights of
papers, in grams per square metre [gsm], used in the period
1845-1865 70 gsm
1865-1875 90 gsm
1875-1902 100 gsm
The survival over
time of the pages from this famous magazine demonstrates they
were of higher quality than paper used in most of today's
periodicals ! Although there can be a tendency for the text
printed on the back of some prints to show through, or
bleed, to the print occasionally, this rarely detracts. Any
marked 'bleed' is noted on our Ebay offers. (We normally do not
offer any prints affected to a material extent).
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The
GRAPHIC
The ILN held
a commanding position in the market place. It was seriously
challenged by The GRAPHIC in 1870. Although it never
reached the circulation of the ILN, it did take a good
market share until the turn of the century. Compared to the ILN,
prints from The Graphic are not that easy to find.
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The
ILLUSTRATED TIMES
This periodical was
another challenger to the supremacy of the ILN in the
1850s. It's life was barely a decade. Prints from The
Illustrated Times are fairly hard to come by.
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The
ILLUSTRATED SPORTING & DRAMATIC NEWS
The ISDN set out for
a niche market, specialising as it did, in Theatre and Sports. In
the 1870s and 1880s it enjoyed some popularity. Today, its pages
are quite scarce and not commonly available. We are fortunate in
having gathered a modest stock over the years.
) 
