The Illustrated Weekly of India

The Illustrated Weekly of India is a Magazine published in India from 1880 thru to 1993. Owned by The Times Group, The Illustrated Weekly of India was initially titled Times of India, before changing it’s name in 1923.

Generally referred to as simply the ‘Weekly’ by it’s readers, The Illustrated Weekly of India was published in English text, commonly read in India by those wishing to learn the English language.

The Times Group commenced on the 4th of November, 1838 with it’s first newspaper, ‘Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce’, later becoming the popular ‘The Times of India’ (the largest circulation of any English-language newspaper in the world, with 2.8 million copies).

The media giant changed ownership several times in it’s long history, currently operating under the name of ‘Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited’, with the majority owner being the Sahu Jain family, headquartered in Mumbai, India.

Today, The Times Group continues to grow stronger, not only publishing several newspapers (such as The Times of India, The Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror, etc.), but also operating television channels, service providing websites (including recruitment and real estate) and radio stations.

The Illustrated Weekly of India was published on a weekly basis (appearing for sale on Sunday’s), with a readership in excess of 50,000, well ahead of it competitor at the time, the Orient Illustrated Weekly with a readership of approximately 30,000. The magazine was mainly targeted at a female audience, with typical content usually including fashion, cooking recipes, celebrity articles, and interior decorating.

The Illustrated Weekly of India is the first time we see a Phantom comic strip in India, debuting on the 24th of February, 1952 with the Lee Falk and Wilson McCoy classic Phantom story, The Rope People.

The Illustrated Weekly of India can be compared to Australia’s The Australian Woman’s Mirror and Sweden’s Vecko-Revyn, which were also the first to feature Phantom comic strips in their respective countries.

Published in a mix of color and black and white, The Illustrated Weekly of India measures approximately 3” x 10”, with page length varying greatly over its publishing period. Below we see a sample of covers published in the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s.

Below we see The Illustrated Weekly of India published on the 30th of June, 1968. A Phantom comic strip can be seen below taking-up half a page. This is the normal format seen over the time the Phantom comic strip was published, with only Sunday Phantom stories published, in both color and black and white.