Saturday, October 24, 2009

Mastheads



The Auckland Bell lasted only for a relatively brief time in the 1880s -- but its masthead, featuring progress images and even the royal standard flag, caught my eye on a trawl through some of the early newspapers at the Auckland Central Library.



The Weekly News in its own 1880s incarnation had the same idea -- sumptuous use of engraved illustration.

 

The Observer started out with, I suppose, a pantomime character in 1880 ...





... who grew up and developed a beard by halfway through the decade ...


 

... to be replaced altogether by a gent on a top hat and a shout-out to the more famous Punch magazine in the late 1890s.

Compared with all this, the New Zealand Illustrated magazine of 1899 looked rather anemic.


1 comment:

  1. What one used to refer to as flair with dash and elan :)

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