The paper rapidly advanced in public favour and soon reached a circulation of 66,000. It celebrated the completion of the first year of its existence by the publication of a double number, profusely illustrated by Gilbert, Harvey, and Kenny Meadows.
[Illustration: BENJAMIN DISRAELI, M.P. FROM THE 'ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS,' JUNE 22, 1844.]
The _Illustrated London News_ was not established without many misgivings as to its ultimate success. Its founder probably did not at first realise all the difficulties that lay in his way, but as fast as they appeared he met them with characteristic courage and energy, and overcame them by perseverance. He seized on every opportunity to consolidate the strength of the paper, and paid a great amount of personal attention to its management, often denying himself sleep one or two nights a-week. As the profits increased he kept on increasing the scope and number of its attractive features. He made it a rule to spare no expense in every department of the journal; whatever money could command for its success he resolved to have. After a time he was able to act on this wise resolve to the fullest extent, and in the end he achieved a great success.
In describing the _Illustrated London News_ during the first year of its existence, I have directed attention chiefly to the pictorial portion of its contents, that being the characteristic feature of the paper by which it was distinguished from its purely literary contemporaries. The engravings I have reprinted from it are given as curiosities and not as specimens of excellence. The succeeding volumes contain abundant evidence that the highest talent was afterwards employed in producing the best examples of art as well as in the illustration of news. In its sixth year the course of public events opened up new and stirring scenes for its pages. So great was the interest felt in the exciting events of the year 1848, that the sale of the _Illustrated London News_ was more than doubled in three months. The vigorous sketches of the French Revolution published week after week were so eagerly bought that the publisher was not always able to meet the demand. On one occasion he was freely pelted with flour and other harmless missiles because the London 'trade' could not get their supply soon enough to satisfy their impatience. The noisy newsboys, in mocking imitation of the Paris mob which was then making the streets of that city ring with cries of 'à bas Guizot!' vented their indignation against the publisher of the _Illustrated London News_ by shouting 'à bas Little! à bas Little!'