"The Lower Depths"

"The Lower Depths": Before the National Enquirer, TMZ, Globe, The Star and other gossip tabloids, there was the National Police Gazette. Founded in 1845, it originally covered "highwaymen and suchlike malefactors, the thought being that the public would get on to the evil-doers and fix their wagons." Thirty years later a new owner transformed 'the oldest weekly in America' into a full-on tabloid covering "murders, Wild West outlaws, and sport... well known for its engravings and photographs of scantily clad strippers, burlesque dancers, and prostitutes, often skirting on the edge of what [was] legally considered obscenity." Some even consider it "America's first popular men's magazine." The Gazette shut down in 1977, but has now been resurrected.

Google's image search turns up some fun engravings.



A small archive of articles from the original Gazette



Interview with the magazine's current owner.