Congratulations to Dr Rose Roberto for her chapter in the award-winning second volume of the The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press edited David Finkelstein. Rose’s chapter stems from her PhD about illustrations in the first and second editions of Chambers’s Encyclopaedia produced in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Her PhD
was an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award held by National Museums Scotland supervised by Alison Taubman, and Typography & Graphic Communication at Reading, supervised by Rob Banham and Sue Walker.
Her chapter, The evolution of image-making industries and the mid- to late-Victorian Press examines design history and the evolution of nineteenth-century illustrations in the context of economic knowledge ecologies. Special attention is paid to analyzing why certain visual trends emerged in the mid- to late nineteenth century, along with trends in the growth and competitive nature of the press. The professionalisation and then de-professionalisation of the British wood-engraving trade is covered through three different eras in illustrated British periodicals, defined here as the decades of the publicists (1830s–1840s), the decades of the wood engravers (1840s–1850s) and the decades of market diversification and fragmentation (1860s–1900).
These eras will be examined by groups of specific illustrated publications established during those years, including the Penny Magazine (1832–45) and Information for the People (1845), as well as in general trends in the first two decades of the Illustrated London News (1842–69) and the first three decades of Punch magazine (1841–2002). Other publications will also be referred to in order to corroborate or contrast styles and layouts, and to show the influence of British engravers on the printing industry. Given that wood engraving rose to prominence in the mid- century, then essentially declined when the periodical press adapted new technology to create images at the close of the century, this chapter highlights the effects of more sophisticated visual communication technologies developed from the 1830s through to the 1890s, and the influence of other image-making processes such as photography on wood-engraved images. It will also show that many design decisions were shaped by economic factors, the discovery of emerging market niches, and the personal ambitions and drive of specific individuals or groups of individuals.