[1] It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in France then, after 1906, the first international illustrated magazine; distributed in 150 countries.

[2] In 1891, L'Illustration became the first French newspaper to publish a photograph.

It also published Gaston Leroux' novel Le mystère de la chambre jaune as a serial a year before its 1908 release.

La Petite Illustration was the name of the supplement to L'Illustration that published fiction, plays, and other arts-related material.

[2] During the Second World War, while it was owned by the Baschet family, L'Illustration supported Marshal Philippe Pétain's Révolution nationale,[3] but turned down pro-German articles by French aristocrat and diplomat Jacques Bouly de Lesdain.