The Mass Image : A Social History of Photomechanical Reproduction in Victorian London

This book examines the emergence of mass reproduction and the origins of modern visual culture in the illustrated journalism of the 1890s. Focusing on the London print media of the 1890s but encompassing developments elsewhere in Europe and the United States, The Mass Image demonstrates that photomechanical reproduction, rather than bringing a neutrality and clarity to the printed image, produced an explosion of mixed and fragmented hand drawn and photographic imagery. The Mass Image situates the creation of the first photographically illustrated magazines within the social relations of the emerging popular culture of late Victorian London. It demonstrates how photomechanical reproduction allowed the illustrated press to envisage modern life on a much more intense scale than ever before.