Description: Collection of 500 magazine inserts.
Level: Collection (Fonds)
Reference: HAT21/587
Alt Ref No.: Hatrecord
Extent: 500 items
Keywords: HAT21/587
Admin History:
The collection was accumulated by a private collector of branded ephemera, over the course of 30 years and was acquired by HAT thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and the players of the National Lottery.
Development of Magazine Inserts
Advances in printing technology, particularly the development of chromolithography (colour lithographic printing) in the 1870s, made it possible for the first time to produce cheaply large numbers of posters and other advertising media such as showcards, brochures, trade cards and magazine inserts. The latter, also known as insets, were a common feature of magazine publishing in Britain, particularly in the years c.1890-1910, when national advertisers made extensive use of their impact in terms of colour in what were then monochrome publications, as full colour in the body of the publication itself was beyond the production means at the time. In an age much less rich in pictorial and visual material than ours we should not underestimate their impact - ads like these provided an irresistible burst of colour and made a big impression on the public. Portable advertising media such as inserts were collected and sometimes used as room decoration in homes and public spaces.
According to The Encyclopedia of Ephemera by Maurice Rickards the format 'appears to have originated in the use of existing leaflets as inclusions (inserts) to take advantage of the expanding magazine circulations of the period, binding-in being a safeguard against loss in distribution. Later, leaflets were produced as dual-purpose items, on the one hand for shop-counter use, on the other as insets. Finally, insets were produced in their own right, having a broader margin to the left than to the right to allow binding without loss of effective image. Some advertisers favoured four-page versions; these were tipped in [with a line of glue] rather than bound'. The reverse side (or verso) of inserts generally consisted of text providing more details of the product range in question e.g. with prices and frequently testimonials.
Chromolithographic inserts were virtually miniature posters, separately printed then inserted during the binding process. Inserts therefore provide a synopsis of the graphic styles of the period, including designs by well-known illustrators of the day such as John Hassall, Lawson Wood, Will Owen, Tom Browne and Phil May. Market leaders such as Lever's, Oxo, Fry's and Bovril were major users of this media.
Many inserts were produced with a view to the juvenile and drawing-room scrapbook/album market e.g. the iconic 'Bubbles' painting was reproduced in an insert for Pears Soap which actually included the suggestion to 'Put this in your Scrapbook'.
It is very rare to find magazine inserts within the pages of their parent magazine, as they were generally either taken out by readers at the time as intended or removed by institutions before the binding up of journal runs, this means that evidence of their original context and positioning is usually lost. Often magazine inserts were damaged if they were torn or cut out hurriedly but examples that have been carefully excised from their binding can remain virtually intact, as with the beautifully preserved examples contained within the Durrell Collection at HAT.