The historical picture agency Mary Evans Picture Library is to manage the archive of The Illustrated London News, the world’s first illustrated newspaper and an ‘unequalled’source for 19th and early 20th century journalism.
The archive will remain under the ownership of the customer publishing and digital agency, Illustrated London News Limited, which has completed a management buyout from Sea Containers, its former owner.
The paper was launched by Herbert Ingram in 1842 and the archive also consists of eight other titles: The Graphic, The Sphere, The Sketch, The Bystander, The Tatler, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, The Illustrated War News and Britannia and Eve.
All eight were brought together as one group, called ‘The Great Eight’in the late 1920s with the iconic Illustrated London News as its flagship.
Mary Evans said in a statement: ‘As well as being an excellent resource for images of events and personalities, the library also boasts a rich seam of illustration by some of the great artists of the period, adding a creative dimension to our strong editorial holdings.”
Paul Brown, Managing Director of Mary Evans, said: ‘The ILN Picture Library complements our own collection and vice versa, as well as simultaneously adding a further dimension, particularly in the case of 20th century events and personalities. We are both proud and delighted to be able to add such a prestigious collection to the library.’
Clients of the ILN Picture Library can choose to search exclusively through the library’s own website or to search across both collections on the Mary Evans Picture Library site.
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