L'Illustration Européenne

L'Illustration Européenne (French pronunciation: [lilystʁasjɔ̃ øʁɔpeɛn]; 1870 – 1914) was a Belgian illustrated weekly newspaper providing general news, serialised fiction, historical anecdotes, short biographies of famous figures, and travel writing. The illustrations (portraits, views, and so forth) that accompanied the stories were the paper's main selling point. The first manager and editor was Théo Spée.

Front page of the first issue
TypeIllustrated weekly
Founder(s)Théo Spée
Launched19 November 1870 (1870-11-19)
LanguageFrench
Ceased publication1914
CityBrussels
CountryBelgium
Front page, 1 March 1890, showing the fire at the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg

In 1885, L'Illustration Européenne became the first Belgian periodical to print a halftone photograph.[1]

The owners of the Parisian illustrated weekly L'Illustration attempted to sue the owners of L'Illustration Européenne for unfair competition in having given their publication a misleadingly similar name. They were unsuccessful in the Belgian courts, but in 1888 did get the French courts to ban the sale of the Belgian weekly in France.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Steven F. Joseph, Belgian Photographic Literature of the 19th Century (Leuven University Press, 2015), pp. 44-45.
  2. ^ "Droit commercial – concurrence déloyale – journal belge imitant un journal français", Bulletin officielle de la propriété industrielle & commerciale, no. 249 (1 November 1888), p. 540.
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