Frank Leslie fathered pictorial journalism in the United States, developed the engraving process that made illustrated news a national medium, created specialized publications for different markets, and built a publishing empire. His colorful second wife legally took the name Frank Leslie after her husband's death and used it to rescue their business, which had become overextended.

Leslie was born Henry Carter in Ipswich, England, on 29 March 1821 to Joseph Leslie and Mary Elliston Carter. Joseph Carter expected his son to succeed him in the family's prosperous glove manufacturing business; to this end, the boy was provided a solid education and practical experience in the business. But he loved art, a pursuit which his father strongly discouraged. He would stop en route to school to watch the workmen in a turner's shop carving figures; at home, he created implements to construct imitations of what he had seen. At the age...