Abstract
The article is dedicated to early sensational pictorial press and its urban readers, as an example of the rising Fin de siècle popular culture in the Czech lands and its significance for revealing fundamental social and political changes. Towards the end of the 19th century, even the members of lower social classes broadened their economical and cultural potency and thus they became a target audience for implementing new social and political concepts.
By the analysing of the popular press and its readers, the situation of the society and its dynamics at the turn of the 20th century is exposed. The industrialization and urbanization brought great changes in the development of culture.
The modern popular culture became distinctly urban and it was connected with new urban inhabitants looking for their new common culture. Emerging popular press is analysed as a marker of the new modern urban experience and its social influences.
Global pattern of successful mass daily press was adapted for Central European (Prague) audience, its specific local beliefs, values and desires, distinctively different to those of big western cities dwellers.