As London Saw It

The Illustrated London News, 1847 to 1849

The Illustrated London News was founded in 1842 as the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper. Every Saturday its engravings carried the news into English homes. For most of its readers, these pages were as close as they came to the Famine.

The issues shown here are originals from my own collection. I keep them because they show what England was told about Ireland, and when. Some of the reporting is compassionate. Some carries the contempt of its time. I have left both exactly as they were printed.

The transcriptions follow the originals, spelling and punctuation included. Anything I add is set apart from them.