Step back into late‑Victorian Britain with this impressive bound volume of copies of The Graphic from 1883, complete with the richly illustrated Christmas editions. Packed with full‑page engravings, charming chromolithograph colour plates and wonderful period adverts, it makes a superb coffee‑table book or source of frameable artwork.
 
The volume has been professionally rebound in a sturdy red half‑leather hardback binding with gilt‑lettered spine, giving it a smart, decorative presence on the shelf whilst protecting the content. Among the highlights are vivid Christmas and children’s scenes, lively sporting and winter illustrations, and pages of advertisements for everything from riding habits to patent medicines and including a large fold out, 'Little Miss Gamp', by Millais.
 
The volume contains 17 copies sequentially bound from September 1st 1883 through to year end and five Christmas editions for the  years 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1883; the colour plates are nearly all in the Christmas editions. There are approximately 70 colour pages, mostly a single illustration per page but a small number covering two pages.
 
The binding sound and presentable, the pages generally clean for a Victorian newspaper, with some toning, occasional spots and minor edge wear as expected, the colour plates bright and lively with some scattered small marks or handling creases.
A beautiful and fascinating collection but also of interest for interior designers looking for a statement Victorian book, print‑makers and artists seeking original 1880s plates to frame or collectors of illustrated newspapers and social history.
The book measures 42 x 31cm (16.54" x 12.2"). 
 
The Graphic magazine was highly topical 19th century magazine which was illustrated  throughout by prominent artists of the day (see below). This collection includes editions from September - December 1883, a fold out of "Little Miss Gamp" by John Edward Millais measuring 80 x 55cm a supplement to the Christmas 1882 edition also the Christmas editions from 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1883 including many full page colour illustrations. 
 
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on December 4th, 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company, Illustrated Newspapers Ltd with Thomas's brother, Lewis Samuel Thomas, as a co-founder. The Graphic was set up as a rival to the popular Illustrated London News. In addition to its home market, the paper had subscribers all around the British Empire and North America. The Graphic sought to bring awareness to prevailing issues in the British empire such as poverty, homelessness, and public health. The newspaper aimed to cover home news and news from around the Empire, and devoted much attention to literature, arts, sciences, the fashionable world, sport, music and opera. Royal occasions, national celebrations, and ceremonies were also given prominent coverage. The newspaper used its illustrations to capture authentic scenes throughout London and had an immense influence on the art world with many admirers including Vincent van Gogh and Hubert von Herkomer.
 
The list of artists employed on The Graphic and The Daily Graphic at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century included Helen Allingham, Edmund Blampied, Alexander Boyd, Frank Brangwyn, Randolph Caldecott, Lance Calkin, Frank Cadogan Cowper, Léon Daviel, John Charles Dollman, James H. Dowd, Godefroy Durand, Luke Fildes, Harry Furniss, John Percival Gülich, George du Maurier, Phil May, George Percy Jacomb-Hood, Ernest Prater, Leonard Raven-Hill, Sidney Sime, Snaffles (Charles Johnson Payne), George Stampa, Edmund Sullivan, Bert Thomas, F. H. Townsend, Harrison Weir, and Henry Woods.
Similarly the list of writers was equally impressive and included George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, H. Rider Haggard and Anthony Trollope. Malcolm Charles Salaman was employed there from 1890 to 1899. Beatrice Grimshaw travelled the South Pacific reporting on her experiences for the Daily Graphic. Mary Frances Billington served the Graphic as a special correspondent from 1890 to 1897, reporting from India in essays that were compiled into Woman in India (1895). Joseph Ashby-Sterry wrote the Bystander column for the paper for 18 years.
 
The notable illustrator Henry William Brewer, contributed a regular illustrated article on architecture to the magazine for 25 years, until his death in 1903