On this day

December 11, 1912

cover page of The Sketch published on December 11, 1912

The Sketch

Issues

2,684

Pages

140,147

Available years

1893-1934, 1937-1958

The Sketch began publication in 1893 as a light-hearted sister paper to The Illustrated London News and described itself as ‘A Journal of Art and Actuality’. It was published weekly and was for ‘the cultivated people who in their leisure moments look for light reading and amusing pictures, imbued with a high artistic value’.

The Sketch was the first newspaper to publish the short stories of Agatha Christie, who wrote 49 stories for the paper between 1923 and 1924. The first of her works to appear in The Sketch was The Grey Cells of M. Poirot. I. - The Affair at the Victory Ball. Christie was already renowned for her novels, and was described as the ‘creator of the most interesting detective since Sherlock Holmes’. Several pictures of her appear alongside the first part of her initial short story. Christie was not the only writer to feature within the pages of The Sketch, as the paper also featured short stories from other authors such as Algernon Blackwood with his short series, The Graceless Pair, and the first published work of Walter de la Mare, Kismet, under the pseudonym Walter Ramal.

The Sketch was also home of Bonzo the Dog and, later, Ooloo the Cat, wonderfully illustrated by George E. Studdy in a full colour page weekly feature during the 1920s. Cartoonist William Heath Robinson was also among the many illustrators employed by The Sketch, who was famous for drawing complex and fantastic machinery.

The Sketch ceased publication in 1959.

For this newspaper, we have the following titles in, or planned for, our digital archive:

  • 1893–1958 Sketch (London, England : 1893)

This newspaper is published by Illustrated London News Group in London, London, England. It was digitised and first made available on the British Newspaper Archive in Nov 29, 2016 . The latest issues were added in Jul 26, 2024.

  • Earliest issue: January 3, 1893
  • Latest issue: December 31, 1958

Restriction

The title is not available on British Library and library premises