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Crossing borders between states and periodicals was a precondition for the emergence of xylographically illustrated German journals from the 1830s onwards—a precondition, amongst others, for L'Illustration, journal universel (1843–1944) and the Illustrirte Zeitung (1843–1944), the first (and for decades, the only) German counterpart of the Illustrated London News (1842–2003). In the 1830s, Germany had "scarcely any wood-cutters," and the few it had were unable to meet the increasing demand.1 Of necessity, editors thus had to procure xylographic illustrations from abroad,2 especially since German wood engravings were not known for their quality.3 Ten years later, the situation had improved noticeably. Around 1840, a number of English and French wood engravers went to Germany, where they, along with young German craftsmen, established xylographic studios.4 Yet this development only in part removed the former difficulties. Domestic production capacities were still limited, and consequently, the prices asked by wood engravers in Germany were high.5 In the case of larger undertakings, such as the Geschichte Friedrichs des Grossen,6 edited by Johann Jakob Weber, the commissioning of wood engravers abroad still seemed unavoidable, at least until 1842.7 Even if from then on the production of books adorned with plenty of brilliant xylographic illustrations was possible without the assistance of foreign studios, the running of a German counterpart to the Illustrated London News was not. For example, the luxury edition of Musäus's Volksmährchen der Deutschen,8 serialized 1842–43, on average provided about twenty illustrations per month,9 a remarkable increase over the Geschichte Friedrichs (1840–42), where the audience had to be content with fewer than twelve monthly wood engravings.10 But taking the new production rate as a measure, almost three years would have been necessary to publish the first volume of the Illustrirte Zeitung, whose weekly numbers, containing, it was claimed, "680 … Illustrationen" in all, were issued within only six months between July 1 and December 23, 1843.11
This could only be achieved with support from Britain and France. However, unlike in the case of his Geschichte Friedrichs, Johann Jakob Weber, the editor of the Illustrirte Zeitung, did not commission studios abroad to manufacture engraved wooden printing blocks.12 He decided on a significantly cheaper procedure....