The Southern Illustrated News
was published weekly (most weeks) from September 13, 1862 until March
25, 1865 by E.W. Ayers and W. H. Wade. Their office was in a Richmond,
Virginia tobacco agency -- owned by Ayers' father. The prospectus
described "a weekly journal devoted to the dissemination of
useful knowledge, embracing literary novelties, historical legends,
biographical sketches and the latest current news." The
eight-page paper was modeled on Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's
Illustrated Weekly.
It was not easy to publish a
weekly illustrated newspaper in the Confederate capital. Skilled or
even unskilled engravers were hard to come by, so the cover
illustration (usually of a Confederate general) and an anti-Union
cartoon were often crudely done. The quality of the paper was a
constant complaint; printer's ink was scarce and, in 1864, may have
been replaced by shoe polish or dye for some issues. On occasion an ad
was run for "an Adams Press…in good running order. The highest
price will be paid."
The January 9, 1864 issue was
skipped because "the machinery in the press room broke." The
July 18, 1863 issue was cancelled because "a rise in the river
prevented (getting) water for the boiler of the steam engine." On
occasion, "the government took over the Richmond and Petersburg
railroad for military purposes, and paper (for printing) didn't get
through." For August 29, 1863, "by the temporary suspension
of the cartel, owing to the treachery of the Federal Government, we
are cut off from the news of Europe and the United States."
Mistakes were prevalent. The
first picture of Robert E. Lee on the cover of the January 17, 1863
issue was taken from a ten-year old photograph and had his middle name
as Edmund instead of Edward. On October 17, 1863, the cover had a
current picture of General Lee but with his middle name and birthplace
wrong; the corrections were published on November 14.
Sometimes the News was
optimistically wrong. Antietam and Gettysburg originally were reported
as Confederate victories. In early September 1864, the News wrote:
"It appears very evident that the North is sick of the War and
quite evident that Lincoln will be defeated." Three weeks later
the prediction changed.
In addition to a cover
portrait and biography, almost always of a southern general, the News
contained a significant amount of literature and a few ads. Its
reporting of the war news makes it an especially interesting study for
today's viewers.
This collection contains 95
issues of Southern Illustrated News. HarpWeek’s basic
collection was augmented by 20 additional issues from the Newseum’s
volume, for which HarpWeek is most appreciative. Although Frank
Luther Mott in his 1939 definitive study, A History of American
Magazines, states that the publication continued until March 25, 1865,
no 1865 copies have been located to date.
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