'the Sphere'
One of the Better Class of Magazines
'The Sphere' was a British newsmagazine very similar in appearance to 'the London Illustrated News' and 'the Graphic', both competitors on the British market, as well as to the French magazine 'L'Illustration', the German 'Illustrirte Zeitung' and the Italian 'Illustrazione Italiana'..
All were high-end publications, seemingly made of the same mold, printed on thick glossy stock and featuring an abundance of photos and illustrations, often in two page spreads or else in full-page lay-outs. 'The Sphere's' star illustrator was Fortunino Matania whose ultra-realistic and heroic or touching work often adorned the title page. His work was sold and imitated the world round and appeared in magazines in both Allied, neutral and Central Powers countries.
'The Sphere' also contained an abundance of advertising, quite often inspired by war-time situations as well as regular news features, editorials, text articles and descriptions of events by well-known writers and reporters. By the war'e end, 'the Sphere' featured a considerable amount of full color pages, usually of paintings or watercolors, color photography apparently being unfeasible at the time.
'The Sphere' was among the few magazines that could afford to send out special correspondents round the world. While 'the London Illustrated News' employed such renowned artists-corresepondents as H.C. Seppings-Wright and Frederic Villiers to cover war-time events on the Western and Eastern fronts, 'the Sphere' could not lag behind. The editors sent reporters such as Scotland Liddell to cover events on the far-flung Russian front and Fortunino Matania toured the Western front.
'The Sphere' was undoubtedly one of the most finely presented and finely printed magazines that appeared on news stands during the Great War.
two typical cover pages