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

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.

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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.