In celebration of their 154th anniversary, our friends at The Atlantic shared a photo of their first cover, from November 1857. The difference between that image and the very different design the magazine is rocking these days sparked our curiosity about what some of today’s best-loved and most widely read publications looked like in their infancy. After the jump, we’ve rounded up debut covers of everything from The New Yorker to Vogue to Spin. We have to admit, some of them really surprised us: Who knew People started off so classy? Or that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s baby was TV Guide‘s first cover model? Journey with us through media and design history after the jump.

The Atlantic, 1857 [via]

Harper’s Bazaar, 1867

National Geographic, 1888

Vogue, 1892 [via]

Time, 1923

The New Yorker, 1925

Esquire, 1933

Newsweek, 1933

Seventeen, 1944

Ebony, 1945

TV Guide, 1953

Sports Illustrated, 1954

GQ (then Apparel Arts Gentlemen’s Quarterly), 1957

Rolling Stone, 1967

New York, 1968

Ms., 1972

People, 1974

Vanity Fair, 1983

Spin, 1985

Entertainment Weekly, 1990

Wired, 1993