New York: P.T. Barnum and H.D. Beach, Publishers, 1853. Original edition.
Bound volume containing the first 26 weekly issues of the journal.
Hardcover. Gray cloth with leather spine and corners, gilt spine decorations and lettering.
Folio (15 ¼ x 11 1/4), engraved volume title page, illustration index +26 issues, 416 pages.
The Illustrated News was a short-lived, heavily illustrated New York weekly newspaper co-owned by P.T. Barnum and the Beach brothers.
It was launched on January 1, 1853, and ran for only 48 issues before being acquired by Gleason’s Pictorial later that year.
It featured a masthead with an engraving of New York harbor.
Each weekly issue had 16 pages and was richly illustrated It was America's first weekly illustrated journal and served as a model for the later
more successful Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly.
The journal covered news and articles on items of interest from the United States and around the world . Notable content during the first half of 1863 includes:
The Death and Funeral of Daniel Webster: Extensive pictorial and written coverage dedicated to the statesman's passing and legacy, Inauguration of Franklin Pierce: Detailed visual reporting on the March 1853 swearing-in of the 14th U.S. President.The Crystal Palace and Exhibitions: Features covering the construction and planning for New York’s landmark exhibition, Industrial and Technological Progress: Illustrated articles highlighting innovations such as the Erickson engine, and Cornelius Vanderbilt’s new steam yacht, the North Star.
Other subjects and illustrations include:
The Gadsden Purchase, the second Grinnel expedition to the Arctic, The U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland, Scuba Diving, The New York Hippodrome, Views of the Rodeph Shalom Synagogue exterior and interior, Parisian fashions, the unfinished Washington Monument, The U.S. Capitol, Matanzas (cuba), Buenos Ayres, many scenes of Washington DC,
Mathew Brady's new studio, Singer's sewing machine, the Baltimore and Ohio railway accident, the New York Fire Department ball, etc. etc.
Also found in this volume is a short poem "Welcome to May" by Horatio Alger, and a four part (January 15, January 22, January 29, and February 5) abridged and rearranged reprint of Edgar Allan Poe's work on autography and the meanings behind signatures. (The original text was first printed in Graham’s Magazine in 1841–1842.)
CONDITION:
The Covers are are soiled, and the edges and corners have moderate wear.
The leather corners and spine are rubbed, some wear at the bottom of the spine, abrasions and rubbing of the gilt decorations.
The front endpapers are heavily dust soiled and have some stains, the lower corners are creased and curled. The rear endpapers and pastedowns are soiled and have large. marginal damp stains.
The Contents are complete and intact except for a few scattered leaves with a closed short marginal tear or a small creased or chipped corner.
The first ten or eleven leaves have small light stains at the lower margins and creased lower fore-corners. The final 25 leaves have light stains confined to the blank fore margin and at the lower fore-corner. Many leaves have a small faint stain at the blank fore margin and there are also leaves occasional light foxing spots. None of the stains affect the readability of the text or clarity of the illustrations.