The same catastrophy in three different journalistic graphic sequences

On September 6, 1889, at around 14:00, there was an explosion in the gunpowder and cartridge factory of Corvilain in Antwerp. The factory was located in the polders near Oosterweel. In the area around the docks and along the shipyard, houses were badly damaged. But there was also a lot of devastation in the rest of the city. The hospitals were flooded with wounded people. With 95 deaths, this was the biggest disaster ever to hit Antwerp in peacetime.
In our sample there are three journalistic graphic sequences about this catastrophe, published a week after the explosion.

De Vlaming,  anon.,‘Schrikkelijke ramp te Antwerpen’ 

Le Patriote illustré, Henri Cassiers?, ‘Catastrophe d’Anvers'

Illustration européenne, M.E. Drot, ‘La catastrophe d’Anvers'

Long shots are common in all three examples, because these viewpoints are ideal to present a context. Only once a close-up is used: De Vlaming ends by a focus on some exploded bullets (there's a Spanish text on the box: "para fusil" = for rifle). 

They all add text to explain what's in the pictures: captions right under the panel, or a number to refer to a general caption, below the page.

There's some variety in what they are presenting. All three show the devastation on the location of the catastrophe: in each sequence there is a drawing of the ruined pub, in two sequences the devastated petroleum depots figure. Le Patriote illustré presents only devastated buildings and a graveside, the other two include emergency workers collecting corpses from the rumble. All three journals focus on the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe: in two cases the fire is not yet extinguished, in Illustration européenne no fires or fumes are any more visible. In all three death is present, two times by the collection of the corpses, ones by the depiction of a grave. 

By comparison, also a photo book La catastrophe d'Anvers was published about the consequences of the explosion.

 

 

Cries of the Streets

 This plate "Bruxelles cri-de-rue" ('Brussels, cries of the streets') from the Belgian "L'illustration européenne" (1888-89) shows 14 different types of street vendors in Brussels and their accesories (push carts, bags, etc). They are all in silhouette, because not the individual traits are important, just the idea of a certain type of vendor. 

The only link between the 14 drawings is that they belong to a particular category of professions. Nevertheless, this plate is more than a dry enumeration; in various instances humor is seeping from the silhouettes, especially if we consider them in relation to the captions. The texts are both descriptive (stating the profession) and direct speech (the shoutings of the depicted persons). Since the title situates all these vendors in Brussels, the direct speech uses the languages of the concerned persons, which is in most cases a local Flemish dialect. The descriptive text is always in French, because this plate is published in a French language weekly. 

I've tried to translate the captions, but some parts were not clearly legible for me. The direct speech is set in italics, and I have indicated with parts are in French or in Dutch (or at least the local Brussels dialect):

1. Bone merchant (F): 'Rags and bones!' (D)
   
2. 'Candles, matches, two boxes for ten cents' (F)
   
3. Seller of clothes (F), 'Clothes sale! Clothes purchase.' (D)
   
4. Eel merchant (F), 'Eel' (D)
   
5. illegible (F)
   
6. Holder of bouquets (F)
   
7. The egg lady (F), 'Eggs, illegible, mastels, chesnuts' (D)
   
8. 'Chair to weave with tule!' (D)
   
9. 'Shrimps and crabes' (both in F and D) 
10. Sandman (F), 'Sand!' (D)
    
11. Pear seller (F), 'Half a pound of good tender pears for five cents!' (D)
    
12. 'Vanilla cream' (F)
    
13. The star and his supplement
14. 'Le Soir (title of a daily) for tomorrow morning' (F), illegible
    

At the bottom we find a name "E. Drot". For the moment, I do not have more information about this creator. Nevertheless since he can write both in French and a Flemish dialect, he must have lived in Brussels itself.