The Pictorial Times

The Pictorial Times was a weekly journal of news, literature, fine arts and drama, published in London by Andrew Spottiswoode from 18 March 1843 to 8 January 1848. It was discontinued after 252 editions when it was acquired by Herbert Ingram who merged it with his own successful publication, the Illustrated London News. This had been launched in May 1842, shortly after the government had withdrawn the taxes on cheap periodicals which it had levied after the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 in order to impede the growth of a reform-minded press aimed at the working class. Two years earlier, in 1840, 78 magazines costing twopence or less began publication in a single week. Although working-class households could ill afford a daily paper, a weekly illustrated paper was not beyond their means.