Illustrated London News - Introduction

The Illustrated London News was founded by Herbert Ingram in 1842. Ingram, a journalist, noticed how the sales of daily and weekly newspapers increased when newspapers carried illustrations. The first issue of the ILN appeared on 14 May 1842 with sixteen pages and included thirty-two illustrations. The paper quickly became very popular and by 1863 its circulation was 300,000 per week.

This is one of the most important sources for illustrations from the high-Victorian era when the British empire was at its peak. The artists it employed were superb craftsmen and the illustrations are almost always of a high quality. Anyone familiar with books on the Great Famine will know how heavily they depend on illustrations from the ILN.

Cork City Libraries hold most copies for the years 1843-1896 of the Illustrated London News. We have made available articles relating to Cork from the Illustrated London News in pdf format. Cork related images from the ILN can be accessed via our library catalogue.

A selection of images from the Illustrated London News is available online from the ILN picture library at http://www.ilnpictures.co.uk/.