The European Illustrated Press and the Emergence of a Transnational Visual Culture of the News, 1842-1870 [Hardcover]

This book looks at the roots of a global visual news culture: the trade in illustrations of the news between European illustrated newspapers in the mid-nineteenth century. In the age of nationalism, we might suspect these publications to be filled with nationally produced content, supporting a national imagined community. However, the large-scale transnational trade in illustrations, which this book uncovers, points out that nineteenth-century news consumers already looked at the same world. By exchanging images, European illustrated newspapers provided them with a shared, transnational, experience.Introduction;  1. Readers all over the world: The audiences of the Illustrated London News, lIllustration and the Illustrirte Zeitung, 1842-1870;  2. The transnational trade in illustrations of the news, 1842-1870;  3. Foreign images of war: LIllustrations images of the Crimean War in Cassells Illustrated Family Paper;  4. Images of the World: The transnational trade in illustrations and the visual representation of the Universal Exposition of 1867;  Conclusion;  Bibliography

In 19th century Europe, illustrated newspapers allowed consumers a shared, transnational experience. Arguing against the assumption that such publications may have emerged merely to support a national imagined community, this monograph uncovers the roots of a global visual news culture fostered by illustrated news from the 19th century.

Thomas Smits is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

US? 2020 Thomas Smits