The Prior Sketches, The Illustrated London News, 1888
On December 15, 1887, the Illustrated London News launched its “Across Two Oceans” public relations/human interest series with an announcement that Melton Prior had departed from the port of Southampton aboard the steamship Moselle (205). Prior was one of the paper’s “special artists,” a term reserved for artists sent on high stakes public relations assignments—often deployed with the British military on major international campaigns. The first leg of the journey included visits to some of the major British colonies in the West Indies—Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad—as well as British Guiana and Panama. The following interactive map chronicles the sketches Prior created during his travels.