"'The Largest Penny Illustrated Paper in the World' was the claim Davis and Marshall made for their Illustrated Tid-Bits, a sixteen paged penn'orth which began on 4 October 1884, and began again on 17 January 1885 as Illustrated Bits after George Newnes brought a law suit. There were other dramas during this comic's career, including changes of Publisher, Editor, policy, and size; but it also introduced the first deliberate attempt to discover strip cartoonists. Editor 'Bimbo' ran a Grand Prize Comic Tableaux Competition offering one pound for 'six small comic tableaux illustrating a story'. And so, besides creating a new field for artists, Bimbo coined the earliest known term for the comic strip - and acquired a supply of them at less than going rates!" (Gifford, 'Victorian', p.9)
|