Illustreret Tidende

History and profile

Illustreret Tidende was founded by Otto Herman Delbanco (originally a music publisher) with inspiration from similar magazines elsewhere, such as the German Illustrirte Zeitung and the English Illustrated London News. The first issue stated the raison d'être of the magazine: "a weekly report on important events and contemporary celebrities, novels, stories, traveller's stories, and other contents from science, literature, art and industry". The target group was the bourgeoisie and academics.

The painter Otto Bache's illustrations from the Danish-German war of 1864 were a break-through into mainstream for the magazine. All the illustrations were compiled into a special issue in 1964 comprising two hundred woodcuts of this important conflict, which undermined the Danish identity of being a major European military power.

Many young writing talents joined the magazine, e.g. Georg Brandes (who wrote literary and theater criticism) in 1862, although he was fired in 1869 when his views diverged from those of the editors. Graphic contributors included Lorenz Frølich, Carl Bloch, Julius Exner, Peter Tom-Petersen, Anton Dorph and Henrik Olrik

References

• Thomas Thomsen: Dengang i Rom. Træsnit og tekst fra Illustreret Tidende 1850-1900, Forlaget Mellemgaard 2008

: A highly detailed review of the magazine's contents is available in:

• Nanna Johnsen, Marianne Duelund, Lis Frederiksen og Hanne Lund: Illustreret Tidende : illustrationer af danske lokaliteter.En topografisk fortegnelse 1-2, København 1983-89.

References

1. "Illustreret Tidende". Det Kongelige Bibliotek.
2. (1 January 2005). "The Nordic Languages". Mouton De Gruyter.
3. In Danish: "Illustreret Tidende, ugentlig Beretning om vigtige Begivenheder og Nutidens Personligheder, fremdeles Noveller, Fortællinger, Reiseskizzer, samt Meddelelser, henhørende under Videnskab, Literatur, Konst og Industri" (source: Zerlang)