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Early issues of the Daily Mirror have been added to @BNArchive, which is great news because the paper has a fascinating origin story.
It was founded by Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) in 1903 who intended it to be the first daily newspaper aimed at women!
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It was founded by Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) in 1903 who intended it to be the first daily newspaper aimed at women!
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Here's how Harmsworth introduced the Daily Mirror — an "entirely new and modern" journalistic venture that had only been made possible by recent transformations in the "freedom, education, and aims" of women. He hired a staff of female journalists to edit the paper. /2
So what did a daily newspaper aimed at Edwardian women look like? We can see an immediate difference in the adverts, which at this time covered the front page of most daily papers. The Mirror focused on large-format adverts for fashion & department stores. /3
I'm comparing the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail here because, at this time, they were part of the same stable of publications. The Mail (founded 1896) cost half the price of its new sister publication. There was a *lot* of cross-promotion going on! /4
The Daily Mirror also boasted a distinctive design and layout — more spacious and elegant than its tightly-packed brother, and with a more feminine typeface in its headers. /5
The newly launched Daily Mirror featured some standard news pages (politics, foreign, economic, etc), but also devoted lots of space to stereotypically feminine interests: weddings, fashion, shopping, beauty, and cooking. /6
[A quick clarification of what I meant by the phrase 'feminine typeface' in tweet /5] https://twitter.com/DigiVictorian/status/1286263696554172416?s=20
The Daily Mirror also launched with the first installment of a serialized story, which they intended to publish daily — the magnificently titled, 'Chance, the Juggler'! /7
So, what became of the first daily newspaper aimed at, and edited by, women?
Alas, the Daily Mirror turned out to be a catastrophic failure. After a strong start — buoyed by an enormous, nationwide advertising campaign — its circulation figures plummeted. /8
Alas, the Daily Mirror turned out to be a catastrophic failure. After a strong start — buoyed by an enormous, nationwide advertising campaign — its circulation figures plummeted. /8
Harmsworth — a man unaccustomed to such big commercial failures — abandoned the experiment after three months. As a final throw of the dice, he completely redesigned the paper and halved its price.
It was now The Daily Illustrated Mirror: "A Paper For Men and Women." /9
It was now The Daily Illustrated Mirror: "A Paper For Men and Women." /9
Harmsworth's strategy for the new paper, in his own words, was to "fill it full of photographs and pictures to see how that would do." Sales of the redesigned paper rapidly improved. /10
A few weeks later, Harmsworth wrote an endearingly candid account of 'How [He] Dropped ÂŁ100,000 On The Mirror'. /11
![A few weeks later, Harmsworth wrote an endearingly candid account of 'How [He] Dropped ÂŁ100,000 On The Mirror'. /11](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdnGWcEWoAAodwc.png "A few weeks later, Harmsworth wrote an endearingly candid account of 'How [He] Dropped ÂŁ100,000 On The Mirror'. /11")
Here's how Harmsworth accounted for the failure of the original Daily Mirror: /12
Traces of the original Daily Mirror remained, but were condensed into one page: /13
Gone, too, were the elegant, cursive headers of the first Daily Mirror. The rebrand reverted to a more traditional roman typeface. /14
The great selling point of the redesigned Mirror — and the thing that differentiated it from the text-heavy Daily Mail — was its liberal use of photographs and illustrations. Here's a typical double-page spread. /15
