ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the origins and format of The Wide World, suggesting that George Newnes's magazine reflects new developments in literature and the periodical press and represented, the revolution in photographic illustration and the invention of the 'true story magazine'. It argues that The Wide World's popularity signified the popularization of the 'world view' within British society at the turn of the century, the evolution of new attitudes to time and space, and the predominance of a culture of imperialism. The chapter examines the ways in which Newnes's magazine brought the 'outposts of empire' and the ends of the earth into the homes of its readers through various narratorial personae who provided a range of perspectives on the 'wide world'. The 'expansion of human consciousness across the globe' was achieved in The Wide World Magazine through various mediators of the revolution in the dimensions of geographical, ideological and journalistic space who brought a range of perspectives to the wide world.
