The Graphic

The Graphic, founded in December 1869 by wood engraver William Luson Thomas, was a British weekly magazine which lasted under that title until April 1932 when it was 'incorporated' into Sphere. It was briefly reincarnated as the 'The National Graphic' but lasted only until July of the same year. Luson believed that the power of illustrations would have a beneficial effect on the public, particularly over political issues. To this end, he employed some of the most gifted artists of the day who included, Luke Fildes, Hubert Herkomer, Millais and later Sidney Sime, Alexander Boyd, Frank Brangwyn, Edmund Sullivan, Phil May, Leonard Raven-Hill, George Stampa, James H. Dowd, Bert Thomas and F. H. Townsend. These artists drew images on wood blocks which in turn were given to engravers, who then cut away the negative areas of the design, after which the inked surface was reproduced like type print.

The magazine started on a very tight budget in a rented house. But, within a dozen years, the organisation owned three buildings and employed more than one thousand employees. Special Christmas editions had colour print on some pages and the combined sales with the USA topped over half a million. Its original creation was arguably a rival to the successful magazine 'Illustrated London News' which outlived it by more than half a century. In a feature on 5 September 1885, the magazine can lay claim to being the world's first photographic picture story with four zoo pictures using blocks made by George Meisenbach, (1841-1912) a German who had patented a halftone process in England in 1882.