The Graphic: a Premier Illustrated Newspaper

This item is a collection of The Graphic’s weekly illustrated newspapers dating from July to December 1891. The weekly newspapers are bound together to create a large book, and to likely be stored as a volume in an archive.

Binding of the book, taken at the Kislak Center at the University of Pennsylvania

This copy of The Graphic is located on the sixth floor of the University of Pennsylvania’s Van Pelt Library in the Kislak Center.

Background

The Graphic was a weekly illustrated newspaper launched in London in 1869 by William Luson Thomas, a woodblock printer, and his brother Lewis Samuel Thomas. Upon its launch, it became quite successful; it was a common rival newspaper for the Illustrated London News, which was founded in 1842, 27 years earlier and was the first weekly illustrated newspaper in the world.

Content

Each weekly issue of The Graphic contains 24 pages of folio with several illustrations embedded throughout, some illustrations filling two entire pages. There are several comics, landscape illustrations, portraits of notable figures, advertisements, and other types of illustrations throughout the newspapers

Comic of the a child's daily routine

The Graphic covered news from around the Empire and covered a wide range of topics which included arts, sciences, fashion, sport, music and more. Thomas encouraged his artists to wander around the London streets for inspiration in order to be have more authentic subject matter. Each issue typically began with “Topics of the Week” – which was 12 paragraphs of news coverage – and included a variety of other sections like “Our Illustrations” (a summary of all the illustrations in the edition), “Home” (summary of the British news), “Church News”, “Legal” (trials and cases of interest), “Book Reviews,” “New Music” (reviews of the latest music and musicals), “Obituaries” of notable people, “Sport” which included coverage of sports like football and cricket.

Materials

The Graphic is full of high-quality wood engraving prints, which were all done with great detail and by talented artists like Henry William Brewer, a notable illustrator who was considered to be one of the greatest architecture draftsmen of his time. The large size of the pages indicates a desire by the artists to display its impressive illustrations. The cover of this particular book is decorated with paper marbling, a popular decorative choice for the cover and inside covers of books in the nineteenth century. This particular copy of the Graphic did not have any readership and was likely made to be stored in an archive. The pages are in perfect condition, with no annotations or damage to them. This copy was likely created as a volume to store in the archives of the newspaper, and was not created to be circulated.

Woodblock Printing

These illustrations are made by the woodblock printing process, the oldest form of printmaking where the desired image is carved into the surface of a wooden block and the book is submerged in ink and pressed onto paper to create the image. In this process, the carved areas of the block do not fill with ink and, thus, do not leave any impression on the paper. The woodblock printing process is a form of relief printing, where the process of cutting or etching the wooden printing surface in such a way that all that remains of the original surface is the design to be printed. In this particular book, the images are crisp and well made, clearly by talented artists. Almost all of the illustrations remain intact and clearly visible.

Historical Significance

Not only was The Graphic significant because it was one of the earliest, most successful illustrated weekly newspapers, but it also documented several historical events both in text and in illustrations. The Graphic was published during the British colonization of India, so there are several political and cultural references throughout this volume of The Graphic. It was also published right before the Franco-Prussian war, and was able to capitalize off of the war's coverage.

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War began in July of 1870, when Prussia – a coalition of German states at the time – defeated France, toppling its hegemonic status. The Graphic printed its first illustration of the war on 13 August, 1870 – less than a year after its own establishment – and instantaneously became highly circulated: “The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War gave the paper its opportunity. The circulation rose by leaps and bounds, and success – a unique success – was assured.” The Graphic's coverage of the war was outstanding and immediately placed them as a threatening competitor to the Illustrated London News.

An comic of a military expedition in Burma (Bottom)

Audience

According to the editor of the paper, the good quality and expertise of the engravings justified the high price of the newspaper. His goal was to create a weekly newspaper that “should not be merely of temporary interest, but should be worthy of being preserved as a constant source of entertainment, and as a faithful Literary and Pictorial Chronicle of the time.” It contained 24 pages and was sold for sixpence, the most expensive of all of the weekly illustrative newspapers. At this price, it could not be available to modest-income classes, but it became extremely popular amongst wealthier people. It was the rival newspaper for the more popular London Illustrated, but it appears the Graphic would have had a smaller, more niche audience than the mainstream graphic, and it would have attracted individuals that were particularly interested in art. It had a reputable art stance, even with reputable artists like Vincent Van Gogh as a major fan and avid collector.

The Graphics illustrations were known to be of a higher standard than its rival newspapers and its artistic excellence stood unparalleled. With its innovation, it has certainly inspired illustrative newspapers to this day and could even be considered the blueprint of the modern magazine.