Colour in magazines: from 1914

Coloured magazines in Britain date back to 1855, but whereas the Victorians pioneered many aspects of the global periodicals industry, they were slow to expand the use of colour, particularly on popular weekly magazines. Four types of technology have dominated magazine colour printing:

• block printing (1850s to 1890);
• chromolithography (1850s onwards);
• photogravure (from 1914, this page);
• offset lithography (from 1960).

The development of colour printing in periodicals is explored using examples over 150 years in these pages.

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Quiver colour cover, February 1914

Quiver (1914) Large A5 monthly

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Blighty. Special issue of free magazine for troops sold to raise funds

Blighty (1916) Christmas special. Large A4

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Petit Journal. 25 June 1916 cover marks Kitchener's death

Le Petit Journal Weekly. Colour supplement format unchanged since 1890

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May 1918 Vogue

Vogue (1916) Twice-monthly Large A4. 1s. Publishing and printing of Vogue moved to Britain because of the wartime blockade by U-boats

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Times Woman’s Supplement, early November 1920 (no. 10)

Times Woman’s Supplement (1920) Twice-monthly. Large A4. 1s 6d Expensive and short-lived

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The Strand 1921 December cover artwork was used again in 1922. Note the Covent Garden flower seller

The Strand (1921) Large A5. George Newnes. Colour covers become a regular feature from 1921. Most picked up details from Covent Garden, where The Strand was based

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Home Chat, 26 January 1924 back cover colour advertising

Home Chat 1924 Weekly. 2d. Large A5. Three colours used on cover for back-page advertising

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Daily Express (1927) Best-selling daily paper begins a series, Colourful England, in which photographs were printed in a single colour. According to Matthew Engel: ‘When Grove Mill, near Watford, was portrayed in its verdant glory, everything had to be in different shades of green, including the sky. It would take more than half a century to develop the techniques of getting full colour on to large quantities of newsprint produced at speed.’ (Engel, 1997, pp128-9)

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Radio Times typical cover in 1923 Radio Times Christmas cover in 1926

Radio Times (1920s-1930s) Weekly. A4-ish. Radio Times overtakes John Bull as the best-selling weekly. Runs colour covers for Christmas and special issues

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Vogue's first photographic cover

Vogue’s first photographic colour cover (1932) Twice-monthly Large A4. 1s 6d

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Woman’s Own, 31 Dec 1932. Spot colour cover

Woman’s Own 1932 Weekly. Large A4. 2d. George Newnes Two-colour covers for new women’s weekly

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Pictorial Weekly photographic and gravure pioneer

Pictorial Weekly (1933) Weekly tabloid. 2d Switched from letterpress printing to two-colour photogravure with photomontages

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London Life, 1934 cover

London Life 1934 Weekly. 6d. Large A4. High-quality hand-coloured monochrome photographs printed photogravure

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John Bull 1934 monochrome cover dominatyed by advertising

John Bull 1934 John Bull's covers focused on display advertising, with photographs being used by clients siuch as Guinness

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Pearsons Weekly29 December, 1934

Pearson's Weekly 1934 Large format Tit-Bits rival runs spot colour on photographic covers

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Woman’s Own, 27 February 1937. First colour cover

Woman’s Own 1937 Weekly. Large A4. 2d. George Newnes Colour gravure cover and centre spread becomes standard for leading women’s weeklies. Similar application in special interest weeklies such as Wild West Weekly, Modern Wonder and Flying

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Woman 5 June 1937, first issue

Woman 1937 Large format colour woman's 2d weekly produced at new Odhams printing pant in Watford, Herfordshire

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Tit-Bits in June 1881

Tit-Bits (1937) Weekly. A4-ish. 2d George Newnes title had barely changed its approach in 50 years

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Answers16 October, 1937

Answers 1937 Large format Tit-Bits rival runs spot colour on illustrated covers

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To-day28 May 1938, first issue

To-day 1938 Large format weekly with coloured photographic cover. Closed within months

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To-day is merged into Pearson's Weekly with 24 September 1938 issue

Pearson's and To-day 1938 Large format weekly with coloured photographic cover. Closed with the advent of World War II

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Illustrated18 March, 1939

Illustrated 1939 Large format colour illustrated covers

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John Bull 1946 cover finally used colour

John Bull 1946 Although ink and paper rationing was still in force, John Bull was able to relaunch in colour for its issue of 2 March 1946. The illustration was by Clixby Watson. This was 10 years after Odhams had built a new factory and installed photogravure colour presses in Watford, where Woman had been printed since 1937

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Answers3 September, 1946

Answers 1946 Large format weekly runs one-off colour illustrated cover to mark its 60th anniversary.

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Picture Post, 10 June 1953

Picture Post (1953) Large format photojournalism weekly began using covers based on colour photographs, or coloured black-and-white images, in 1952. Colour covers became standard in 1953 but the emphasis switched from photojournalism to royalty and film stars

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Punch, 13 June 1956, Ronald Searle cartoon

Punch (1956) Veteran humorous weekly drops famous Dicky Doyle cover for colour cartoons

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Economist adopts 'redtop' masthead, 1959

Economist (1956) Leading typographer Reynolds Stone redesigns titlepiece for veteran economic weekly, reversing white title out of red block

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John Bull last issue, 20 February 1960

John Bull 1960 Last issue of John Bull before relaunch as Today

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