Life started in the early 20th century as a weekly humour publication. When the original Life Magazine was shutting down, the American publisher Henry Luce purchased the name and relaunched the magazine as a picture based periodical on November 23rd 1936. It was the first pictorial magazine published, featuring a cover photo of the Fort Peck Dam by Margaret Bourke-White. The original aim of Time was to tell the news and Life to show the news. It set the stage for the American people to see the world, to witness the events of the world that happened thousands of miles away.
It was around the same time yet another magazine named the Look hit the newsstands of America, February 1936. It was well received by the public that by the month of April it went from being a monthly publication to a bi-weekly publication. Both the magazine Life and Look, were great success in terms of circulation.
The photojournalism of LIFE and LOOK flourished in the fifties, but both were in steep decline by the late 1960’s. They viewed television as the major villain contributing to their decline in the market.
Life magazine was back by 1973 publishing two special issues each year from 1973 to 1977 and started the monthly publications in the year 1978. Mike Cowles the owner of Look hired top circulation experts and within an year came back into circulation.
LIFE and LOOK Magazine are affordable collectibles, the covers as well as the lavishly illustrated contents assure that both magazines will be collected by others in the future as well.
