[NAVIGATION & MARITIME -- AUSTRALIA].Biblio.com
[Prints; Australia]Biblio.com
Australia Portrayed. Perceptions of Australia in 19th c. Foreign Periodicals
28182A valuable reference collection of images and articles that shaped perceptions of Australia to the wider world in the 19th century. This is a collection of over 800 woodcut illustrations and articles from the 19th century from the Illustrated London News The Graphic and The Illustrated Times & other less successful periodicals. The images of the ILN and Graphic are a comprehensive and systematic collection of Australian related images and articles from 1842 ILN and 1870 Graphic through the end of 1899. This collection was started in London in the late 1970s. It was our intention to create a comprehensive reference of every woodcut image of Australian interest in the two major British periodicals from their start date to 1900. We were living in North London not too far from Omniphil Limited a company based in Chesham Bucks. They were the preeminent dealers in woodcut images from British periodicals in the 1970s and 80s. We visited their premises repeatedly and sat and turned the pages of every single volume of their reference set noting the images related to Australia and purchasing a copy of those images. Another component of the collection is an assemblage of Australian images from lesser-known periodicals such as the Illustrated Times the Pictorial Times The Illustrated News of the World Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion Harper's Weekly Canadian Illustrated News and a few singletons from the Illustrated Family Paper l'Opinion Publique and the Australasian Sketcher. <br /> <br /> An important component of this collection is the associated Excel listing of the prints & text. These are indexed by year month & day image title print size associated text and folder number. <br /> <br /> The total collection is housed in nine A3 folders with fixed sleeves. Early years have 2 sheets per sleeve; later years are sometimes grouped together to fit into the available room in the album. The folders are approx. 12 ½" x 17" x 1". They were manufactured in England by Rexel Nyrex with the following label in the back inside cover "Rexel / Nyrex / PFV / A3 / 24 Made in Gt. Britain." The company still manufactures plastic products. We have not been able to ascertain if these are archival but the prints have been in the folders for at least 43 years and there has been no degradation. <br /> <br /> The only exception to the completeness of the collection is ship prints which were quite expensive at the time we assembled the collection. <br /> <br /> The collection is organized in three parts: <br /> Part I - The Illustrated London News 1842-1899; Part II - The Graphic 1870-1899; Part III - The Illustrated Times the Pictorial Times and other British & North American periodicals 1845-1883.<br /> <br /> Combined these original woodblock prints and articles are a valuable reference collection that shaped perceptions of Australia to the wider world in the 19th century a collection which would now be all but impossible to assemble. <br /> <br /> Part I<br /> Australian images from The Illustrated London News British periodical from its start in 1842 thru 1899. A comprehensive collection of Australian related images & articles from this groundbreaking periodical - the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine; the first periodical to employ special war correspondents and illustrators; the first to publish color supplements. The Australian material begins in the first publication on May 14 1842 and runs through the last article in the century in June 1899 and has approximately 467 images and 29 substantial articles. <br /> <br /> Australia is mentioned in the text of the first issue with an article "Sheep Farming in Australia" on p.15 about 4 column inches from the Inverness Courier. On the verso is an amusing illustration of a publicity stunt of the publishers. The founder Herbert Ingram paid hundreds of men to carry large sign boards in the streets reading "The Illustrated London News 30 Engravings Price 6D." The highly exaggerated drawing shows the sign bearers stretching as far as the eye can see on London footpaths. The caption reads "The 'Illustrated London News' Published Every Saturday. Thirty Engravings. Price Sixpence. The above engraving represents the public announcement of this paper on Friday last. Two hundred men paraded the streets of London to proclaim the advent of this important publication." Below the rule is printed "London: Printed by R. Palmer at the Office of Palmer & Clayton 10 Crane-court; and published by J. Clayton at 320 Strand. - Saturday May 14 1842." The first image of an Australian subject is in the December 23 1843 issue "New Government House Sydney" with text. The revenue stamp appears at the bottom left of the page. The discovery of gold in Australia is announced in a long article on the cover on Sept. 6 1851 entitled "Another El Dorado" in an article 15 column inches long. The last image is from June 1899 the Australian cricketeers in London- "The Australian Cricket Team / The Team up-river: leaving Boulter's Lock / The Test match at Lords Between England and Australia: Trumper and Hill at the Wickets". <br /> <br /> The ILN collection is housed in six A3 folders with fixed sleeves. Early years have 2 sheets per sleeve; later years are sometimes grouped together to fit into the available room in the album.<br /> <br /> Folder 1 - 1842-1852; 68 images & 12 articles<br /> Folder 2 - 1852-1854; 70 images & 13 articles<br /> Folder 3 - 1855-1861; 50 images & 1 article<br /> Folder 4 - 1862-1864; 55 images & 1 article<br /> Folder 5 - 1865-1884; 90 images & 2 articles<br /> Folder 6 - 1886-1899; 135 images<br /> <br /> Although Gale subscription service has a digitized resource titled the "Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003" this collection is invaluable as it is composed of the actual period woodblock prints and articles accessible in six A 3 folders. <br /> <br /> Part II<br /> Australian images from The Graphic British periodical from its start in 1869 thru 1899. Australian related images from The Graphic the British weekly illustrated newspaper first published on 4 Dec 1869 which was set up as a rival to the Illustrated London News. <br /> <br /> The Australian images begin in March 1870 and runs through 1899 approximately 242 images. There are 13 double page images 2 full weekly issues for the Sydney & Melbourne Exhibitions with the continuing supplements; 1 color Christmas issue; 74 full page and 39 half page illustrations. Highlights include images of bush and settlers' lives Tichborne case cricket Victorian gold the Kelly gang black trackers wool shipping ostriches a shearing dispute. <br /> <br /> The first Australian related image in The Graphic was published on the cover of the March 12th 1870 edition "Picnic in Australia To the Officers of the Flying Squadron." The last image for the 19th century is dated July 1899. The Graphic is housed in two folders are A3 approx. 12 ½" x 17" x 1". <br /> <br /> Part III<br /> Australian images from The Illustrated Times the Pictorial Times and other British periodicals as well as North American periodicals including Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion Harper's Weekly and others. London; New York; Boston; Canada: Various publishers 1845-1883. A collection of some of the scarcer woodcut images of Australian related images from various shorter-lived illustrated periodicals published in England and North America. These include The Pictorial Times The Illustrated Times The Illustrated News of the World Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion Harper's Weekly Canadian Illustrated News and a few singletons from the Illustrated Family Paper l'Opinion Publique and the Australasian Sketcher. These are scarcer publications than the market-dominating Illustrated London News & The Graphic. The collection starts in March 1870 and runs through 1899 approximately 107 images. <br /> <br /> Of particular interest is a series in the Illustrated Times entitled "England Versus Australia" illustrated by Florence Claxton. Claxton was an English artist who spent part of her adolescence in Sydney NSW in the 1850s. Throughout 1863 and early 1864 Miss Claxton drew imagined comparisons between the two environments not uniformly biased towards either country. In the first "Daughters Here" has a group of gentlewomen sitting in a lovely drawing room making lace playing piano or gazing in the mirror. "Sons There" shows the men doing the laundry mending and cooking. "Governesses Here" shows a gaggle of governesses seemingly subject to the whims of a butler; "Want of Governesses There" shows a home with the mother distraught the children causing absolute pandemonium & the father sitting and reading the paper. In another "Needlewomen Here" the seamstresses work themselves to exhaustion in a dark room with one light; "A Modiste There" shows a prosperous woman with many customers. <br /> <br /> We did not have access to a reference set for these smaller publications so these images are an assemblage not a comprehensive and consistent collection. <br /> <br /> The Pictorial Times. 1843-1848 Opened by Henry Vizetelly his brother and Andrew Spottiswoode. Eventually it was purchased by Ingram owner of the ILN and merged with The Lady's Newspaper. Unfortunately this newspaper did not date their issues but sometimes dates are to be found in text.<br /> <br /> The Illustrated Times. 1855-1862. A rival to the ILN edited by Henry Vizetelly who had left the ILN to open it. Vizetelly campaigned in the 1850s for the repeal of the Stamp Act. Its eventual repeal was a great boon allowing the new paper to be published at the low price of two pence.<br /> <br /> The Illustrated News of the World 1858-1864. This was published by John Tallis famed for his atlases with maps adorned with views. According to OCLC: 7091980 It started in Feb. 1858 and ceased in Aug. 1864<br /> .<br /> Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion was a 19th-century illustrated periodical published in Boston Massachusetts. The magazine was founded by Frederick Gleason in 1851. According to OCLC: 10261386 it ran from 1851 - 1854. The publication name was changed to Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion in 1855 after managing editor Maturin Murray Ballou bought out the interest of Gleason. Unfortunately this newspaper did not date their issues but sometimes dates are to be found in text.<br /> <br /> Harper's Weekly A Journal of Civilization was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916 it featured foreign and domestic news fiction essays on many subjects and humor alongside illustrations. It carried extensive coverage of the American Civil War including many illustrations of events from the war. During its most influential period it was the forum of the political cartoonist Thomas Nast. <br /> <br /> This collection is housed in one A3 folder approx. 12 ½ x 17" x 1" with fixed sleeves. The prints & text are indexed by newspaper and thence by year month & day image title print size & associated text including some artists and folder number. <br /> <br /> A collection of primary source documents revealing the perceptions and attitudes towards Australia in the 19th century. hardcover
