Bringing together kindred spirits in publishing, printing and the graphic arts
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Evening Meeting of The Wynkyn de Worde Society
Edward Lloyd by Matt McKenzie
Tuesday 9 September 2025, The Art Workers’ Guild, 6:30pm
Edward Lloyd was one of the most successful publishers of the nineteenth century, his Lloyd’s Weekly being the first newspaper in the world to achieve a circulation of one million copies, yet he is relatively unknown.
Most commentaries on the subject concentrate solely on The Times, whereas Lloyd was instrumental in introducing new technologies in both newspaper production and paper making. He was also the most prodigious publisher of the so-called ‘penny dreadful’—stories full of romance and excitement that were published in weekly episodes for the price of one penny.
For half his life he lived in Walthamstow in what is now the William Morris Gallery and in 2015, the bicentenary of his birth, Dr Sarah Lill delivered a lecture outlining his amazing career. Although currently unavailable to give this lecture at the Art Workers’ event, her place will be taken by our Chair for 2025, Matt McKenzie, who has been researching Lloyd’s life and work for the last ten years.
