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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Illustrated London News
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(ILN)
Magazine of great significance in that its first issue – on 14 May 1842 – introduced the era of illustrated journalism. It was the brainchild of a printer, Herbert Ingram (1811–60), who had made money as a sideline from the sale of a laxative, Parr's Life Pills. His concept – news stories made more immediate by specially commissioned wood engravings – was an instant success. The paper was also made eye-catching by having news and pictures on the front page where others had only advertisements. Its content was challenging too; the second issue placed pictures of the domestic life of the young queen beside others of children working in the mines.
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When there was revolution in the streets of Paris in 1848, the editor sent an artist over with instructions to rush drawings back for the wood engravers – the first example of frontline image-gathering, now familiar in journalism. The ILN published illustrated stories of interest on any subject, as it still does today, but from the early years one specialization began to emerge – archaeology. This has traditionally been the journal where archaeologists first publish illustrations of their discoveries, including Howard *Carter's treasures of Tutankhamen in the 1920s.
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The magazine remained for well over a century under the direct control of the Ingram family; the founder's grandson, Bruce Ingram, was editor for an extraordinary span of 63 years (1900–63). By the end of that period the ILN was in decline, partly because its old appeal of immediacy with pictorial news had been replaced by both television coverage and illustrated daily papers.
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