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The Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.
The first issue of The Illustrated London News had 16 pages and 32 wood engravings covered topics such as the war in Afghanistan, a train crash in France, a survey of the candidates for the US presidential election, extensive crime reports, an account of a fancy dress ball at Buckingham Palace, theatre and book reviews, and a list of births, marriages and deaths. The newspaper also carried three pages of advertisements for items such as a taxidermy manual, Madame Bernard's treatment for baldness, and Smith's quinine tonic. Ingram hired 200 men to carry placards through the streets of London promoting the first edition of his new newspaper.
Costing sixpence, the first edition sold 26,000 copies. Despite this initial success, sales of the second and subsequent editions were disappointing. However, Herbert Ingram was determined to make his newspaper a success, and sent every clergyman in the country a copy of the edition which contained illustrations of the installation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and by this means secured a great many new subscribers.
Its circulation soon increased to 40,000 and by the end of its first year was 60,000. In 1851, after the newspaper published Joseph Paxton's designs for the Crystal Palace before even Prince Albert had seen them, the circulation rose to 130,000. In 1852, when it produced a special edition covering the funeral of the Duke of Wellington, sales increased to 150,000; and in 1855, mainly due to the newspaper reproducing some of Roger Fenton's pioneering photographs of the Crimean War (and also due to the abolition of the Stamp Act which taxed newspapers), it sold 200,000 copies per week.
By 1863 The Illustrated London News was selling more than 300,000 copies every week, enormous figures in comparison to other British newspapers of the time. Competitors appeared but did not last long; Andrew Spottiswoode's Pictorial Times lost £20,000 before it was sold to Ingram, while Henry Vizetelly, who had quit Ingram to found the rival Pictorial Times, eventually sold it to Ingram, who terminated it.
The Illustrated London News is noted for it's amazing photography and through photos and articles the latest events in Great Britain and the world.
Every issue had some coverage of Royalty, whether British or other countries. Each issue had photos of great paintings and other art works and as well as antiquities discovered through archeological excavations. Science and sports were also covered and photos of people and places in the news. Each issue had wondeful advertisements of products of the times with many full page colour ads of cars, fashion, alcohol related products and much more. The size of this magazine/newspaper was a large 14 1/4" by 10 1/4" which made the full page photos that much more impressive.
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