My theory is that "a picture is worth 1,000 words" comes from Middle English manuscripts. These are the ones with fancy calligraphy, a fancy-looking letter to start a section of a work, and, frequently, a little drawing to the side of the text (this is called an "illumination"). Each of these things - the calligraphy, the letter, and the illumination - were done separately. Each person commanded a different fee - the calligrapher was paid the least, the letter-drawer was paid a bit more, and the illuminator was paid still more. Because of this, the calligrapher did his work first (and it was almost always a man who did this); the theory went that if the calligrapher knocked over the inkpot, then the mess would only affect the cheap work and not the really nice work, too.
My theory is that the illuminator was paid the same amount for the one illustration as the calligrapher was paid per thousand words. This is, in fact, a theory, and could be completely wrong.
TO RESEARCH!
According to dictionary.com, unfortunately, I am completely wrong. According to the definition given on the website,
"This saying was invented by an advertising executive, Fred R. Barnard. To promote his agency's ads he too out an ad in Printer's Ink in 1921 with the headline "One Look Is Worth a Thousand Words" and attributed it to an ancient Japanese philosopher."
Ah, well. I hope this post was, at least, a bit informative.
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