Web: New digital archive showcases 185 years of The Spectator magazine

Date
24 June 2013

For this of us passionate about print media, it’s sometimes useful to look to the past to help contextualise what might play out in the future. For that reason, moves by The Spectator – the oldest continuously-published magazine in the English-speaking world – to digitise its 185-year archive will be of interest to many. It’s a work-in-progress at the moment, but the opportunity to delve back to the very first issue launched in 1828, and to chart over the ensuing decades the changes in content, tone and of course design makes for a real treasure trove for those of us still fighting the good print fight here in 2013.

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The Spectator archive page

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The masthead of the first ever issue of The Spectator

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A cartoon from the archive

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An 1886 piece about the growing problems in The Balkans

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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