This study aims to examine the field of various forms of illustrated literature published during the 19th Century, which deal with Swedish history. Illustrated literature is put into different but concurrent contexts, such as the world of educational ideas in school, the strive to raise the standard of adult education in the population, and the experience of reading novels. Discussions about the view on and the effect of facts and fiction, empiric applications and narrative, as well as explanation and illustration by texts and pictures, hold a central position.