Frank Leslie's Chimney Corner

Frank Leslie's *Chimney Corner*, a weekly illustrated story paper established in 1865, brought serialized fiction to American households at affordable prices. This front page features an ornamental masthead and a wood-engraved illustration depicting a dramatic scene: a woman lies prostrate on the ground while two men—one in dark coat and hat, the other in lighter dress—gesture and converse above her, their expressions grave. A distant bridge spans water in the background. The image anchors the week's installment of popular romance or adventure fiction. Published by Frank Leslie's prolific New York house, *Chimney Corner* exemplified the cheap illustrated press that democratized reading and visual narrative in the nineteenth century, a direct ancestor of modern comics and pulp magazines.