The Crowd and the Building: Flux in the Early Illustrated London News

Abstract

When the illustrated newspaper was "invented" in 1842, festivals soon became prime content for the young Illustrated London News. Presenting festivals from home and abroad, illustrated papers were full of images and descriptions of spectacle in motionincluding spectacular architecture and people. What was the relationship between the crowd and the building, in word and image, and how did it relate to the role architecture played in the public sphere? This article argues that the increasing plasticity of the text, alongside the rising dominance of the image, turned printing from a static medium into an interactive one. The page transformed from a surface into a space that could capture figures and buildings in flux. As styles multiplied in the age of historicism, text and image in the Illustrated London News provided an immersive, yet highly controlled, experience of the metropolis and its events. Response to Reviewers: Additional Information: Question Response If you answered 'yes' to the above question then please enter details below. If you answered 'no' then please enter 'not applicable'.