Libraries

First published May 14, 1842, the Illustrated London News was the world's first pictorial weekly newspaper. Its founder, Herbert Ingram, was an entrepreneurial newsagent, who noticed that newspapers sold more copies when they carried pictures. The newspaper covered wars, royal events, scientific invention, and exploration. In 1855 it launched the world's first color supplement. Over the years the publication played host to distinguished contributors, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Wilkie Collins, Rudyard Kipling, and Agatha Christie; and artists such as Melton Prior, William Heath Robinson, F Matania, Mabel Lucie Atwell and H.M. Bateman.