Overview

Unusually, The Dundee Diagnostic Society’s Volume for 1846 was published in the ‘traditional’ manner, printed specially for the society by McCosh, Park & Dewars. The content is partially highlights from the society’s MS magazine, and partially pieces specially composed for the printed volume. The contents are a mix of essays and poetry.

The contributors are anonymous, but correspondence in the Dundee Advertiser in 1904 revealed that they included William Baxter (later a politician based in Montrose), Jane Elizabeth Baxter, Peter Greenhill, Robert Matthew and Jessie Scott (who later married the above William Baxter). Some of the pieces have been retrospectively attributed to their authors – for example, William Baxter contributed an essay on “The Legislative Policy of Great Britain,” perhaps foreshadowing his career plans – but several are still unknown. Those by female contributors are marked as ‘by A Lady,’ indicating that different factors were taken into consideration when assessing women’s writing as opposed to men’s.

The Dundee Diagnostic Society operated between 1844 and 1847. During the 1840s, many societies were founded in Dundee, and many others also found themselves short-lived.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Dundee Diagnostic Society (Note: this might be a different society from the Diagnostic Society (1848?-?)

Date of Existence

1844-1847

Date of Magazine

1846

Number of Issues

1 published (earlier MS magazine(s) not extant?)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print (Note: ‘Prefatory Notice’ states that ‘The Volume is composed partly of articles which were originally contributions to the society’s M.S. Magazine…’)

Contents and Contributions

Articles (non-fiction); Essays; Poems (original); Title page

Repository

Dundee District Central Library, The Wellgate

National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh

Reference

D80.6 (Dundee)

Jac.IV.4/2 (Edinburgh)

Additional Notes

These magazines were collected in the 1860s by A.C. Lamb, a Dundee temperance hotelier. Many of the societies represented met on premises owned by either himself or, in earlier decades, in his father Thomas’ coffee house. Lamb was often involved in society life himself, and his collection of over 450 boxes covers a wide range of material relating to literature, poetry, culture and politics in Victorian Dundee. For more information on this material, please contact local.history@leisureandculturedundee.com.

Overview

George Tawse, one of the founding Literary and Scientific Institute members, wrote a light-hearted and affectionate recollection of the society’s early days in 1846, in which he depicted its humble beginnings as eight or ten “mere lads”, meeting on Monday evenings in a “mere garret – and a very poor garret – as garrets go[.]” This garret was the attic of the Cramb family house, shoemakers “of a political and intellectual cast, as shoemakers often are,” and was located at the east end of Dundee High Street (barely five minutes’ walk from Lamb’s Coffee House in the Murraygate, where the Dundee Literary Society met).

Their first concerns were in discussing literary and scientific affairs, but their minds soon turned to the prospect of a manuscript magazine, as a way to ‘vent’ their energy and intelligence. As well as Tawse and two brothers from the Cramb family, the original members included geologist and journalist James Adie, who emigrated to Canada around four years after the society’s foundation. At the time, Adie was known among his friends for his love of verse, ‘if in rhyme,’ and his recitations of poems by Scott, Byron, and in particular James Hogg, from which he gained the nickname ‘Kilmeny.’

An earlier recollection of the beginnings of the Literary and Scientific Institute was written by James Barnet, mostly in memory of Adie, and appeared in the periodical The Scottish American in 1890. He describes himself and three other boys ‘just in their teens,’ including Adie, who “took it into their heads that they would form a mutual improvement society.” At the time of publication, Barnet said this took place ‘around fifty years ago,’ placing the events described around 1840.

Their meetings took place domestically at first, in Barnet’s house and then in Adie’s, before the “first mutual improvement society in town” grew from the small group. If Barnet joined the group for the transition to Cramb’s garret, Tawse does not seem to remember him. Similarly to the Literary Institute, the young members of this group took turns at presenting an essay each meeting, but in the early days this did not have to be original work. Barnet, when nominated for the first essay, found a story about Genghis Khan in the Chartist Circular to read, despite a total prior lack of knowledge on the subject.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Dundee Literary and Scientific Institute

Date of Existence

1844 -1848

Date of Magazine

1844-1847 (or possibly 1855?), Vol. 1?-Vol. 2

Number of Issues

2

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Articles (non-fiction); Editorial; Essays; Letter to ‘Critic’; Letter to Editor; Magazine Rules; Poems (original); Title page

Repository

Dundee District Central Library, The Wellgate

Reference

D22022, Lamb Collection, 265(17)

Additional Notes

See also Dundee Natural History and Literary Magazine.

These magazines were collected in the 1860s by A.C. Lamb, a Dundee temperance hotelier. Many of the societies represented met on premises owned by either himself or, in earlier decades, in his father Thomas’ coffee house. Lamb was often involved in society life himself, and his collection of over 450 boxes covers a wide range of material relating to literature, poetry, culture and politics in Victorian Dundee. For more information on this material, please contact local.history@leisureandculturedundee.com.

Overview

In the 1830s and 1840s, there appears to have been a strong connection between natural history and literature in Dundee (see also The Wreath of Wild Flowers and the Literary and Scientific Institute). This magazine divided its pages between Botany, Gleanings in Natural History, Ornithology, Geology, Poetry, Reviews, and Miscellaneous (which included travel reports or editors’ notes.)

Contributors to this magazine published under their real names, and these include botanist G. Lawson, who produced most of the content, John Sime (a schoolteacher who was active in several societies) and John Findlay. The only pseudonym is the “Mountain Muse,” almost certainly the poet Alexander Wilson, a weaver from Alyth who moved into Dundee, who contributed a piece on “The Plants of the Bible.” Another weaver poet James Gow, a Chartist and the author of “Lays of the Loom,” also contributed a poem entitled “The Snow Drop” to an issue of the magazine.

Gow and Wilson knew each other from an earlier group known as “The Republic of Letters” (see ‘Additional Notes’ below), politically active writers who met in Dundee pubs and weaving sheds in the 1830s. James Adie, who contributed geographical essays, was also involved in the Dundee Literary and Scientific Institute around this time. He later emigrated to Canada, where he died in a snowstorm.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

(Currently unknown if this is a formal society)

Date of Existence

Jul. 1846?-?

Date of Magazine

Vol. I., Dundee, 1846, Jul. to Dec. 1846; Vol, II., Jan. to Jun. 1847; Vol. III, Jul. to Dec. 1847

Number of Issues

18 issues (not extant?)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Articles (scientific); Editorial; Essays; Poems (original); Review; Table of Contents

Repository

Dundee District Central Library, The Wellgate

Reference

365(5), Lamb Collection

Additional Notes

See also The Dundee Literary Society’s Magazine, and The Attic Journal.

These magazines were collected in the 1860s by A.C. Lamb, a Dundee temperance hotelier. Many of the societies represented met on premises owned by either himself or, in earlier decades, in his father Thomas’ coffee house. Lamb was often involved in society life himself, and his collection of over 450 boxes covers a wide range of material relating to literature, poetry, culture and politics in Victorian Dundee. For more information on this material, please contact local.history@leisureandculturedundee.com.

Overview

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Rusholme Wesleyan Mutual Improvement Society (Manchester) (discussion of changing to ‘Rusholme Wesleyan Literary Society’ proposed on meeting of 20 Apr. 1895)

Date of Existence

2 June 1842-1895?

Date of Magazine

(Magazine founded in 1877); extant issues: 1880-1895

Number of Issues

13

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript (contributions originally read aloud at Magazine Nights; collected and issued as bound magazine)

Contents and Contributions

Repository

Manchester Archives and Local Studies

Reference

GB127.MS f 374.5 M10; see also minutes for society (GB127.MS 374.5 M11); (7 volumes of minutes spanning 50 years from 1842-1895; volumes dated as follows: 1842-1847, 1859-1864, 1874-1877, 1877-1880, 1880-1886, 1886-1891, 1891-1895)

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

(Currently unknown) (Dumfries)

Date of Existence

1872?-1883?

Date of Magazine

June 1872, July 1872, Sept. 1872, Dec. 1872, Feb. 1873, June 1873, Sept. 1873, Apr. 1883

Number of Issues

8 (four from 1872, three from 1873 and one from 1883)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Repository

Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council Library Service, Ewart Library, Dumfries

Reference

[EWK] DB151(05) (Note: this is also ref. for The Sphinx, see below)

Additional Notes

See also The Sphinx (1891-93).

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Dufftown Mutual Instruction Society (Elgin)

Date of Existence

1859?-?

Date of Magazine

1859

Number of Issues

1 (extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print (Note: this is a bound, print magazine. However, according to the ‘Preface’, the society’s magazine is a manuscript magazine, and this publication contains some of the materials in the 6 magazines that had been produced as of 1859)

Contents and Contributions

Repository

Elgin Public Library

Reference

L 052, Barcode: 00368629

Overview

Dundee Literary Society’s decision to launch a magazine in December 1846 was mainly focused on extending the reach of its influence, meaning that those who could not attend meetings because of time or location could share in some of the benefits. Perhaps some of those who benefited from the magazine were prevented from attending meetings due to age or gender restrictions too, but this is not clear from the readers’ list. The wider circulation was also intended to make make authors try harder in their work, especially with the potential for scrutiny by a “higher class of readers than was to be found in the society itself.”

The magazine was published monthly between October 1846 and June 1848, at which point “several factors […] obstructed its progress.” The editor gives no more detail than this, though lack of enough regular contributions seems a likely reason. The magazine’s revival, in January 1849, went ahead despite some opposition from members. The latest surviving issue is from 1852, although this does not necessarily mean publication ceased after that year.

On more than one occasion, the magazines were used to reflect upon the benefits of the societies themselves, either in editorials or submitted essays. In 1851, Dundee Literary Society’s magazine included a piece entitled “On the Influence of Literary Societies on Particular Aspects of the Character.”  The author notes the volume of recent public discussion on the benefits of literary societies – reinforcing their popularity – and reiterates the argument that these societies are good for improving members’ natural “vigour of mind” and instilling modesty, particularly through the active habit of practicing virtue.

The benefit of the friendly rivalry which these societies can foster is also presented as a benefit (a more formalised version of the Republic of Letters’ weekly competitions, see ‘Additional Notes’ below), as the sense of rivalry was considered to only emerge among equals: “[the] peasant does not envy his wealthy master, yet in the rustic game he will do his utmost to excel.” The society was an equaliser on intellectual terms, encouraging members to apply themselves until they were a match for their most accomplished colleagues.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Dundee Literary Society

Date of Existence

31 Jan. 1845-?

Date of Magazine

1847-1854 (Vol. 1, 1847; Vol. 1, Nos. 1-6, 1849; Vol. 3, Nos. 13-18, 1850; Vol. 4, Nos. 19-24, 1850; various unbound copies, 1851-1854 (Incomplete))

Number of Issues

6 vols.* (*while the 1850 Contents lists 6 issues, there are only 5, the last one not included) = 45 issues

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Articles (non-fiction); Editorial; Essays; Letter to ‘Critic’; Letter to Editor; Magazine Rules; Poems (original); Table of Contents

Repository

Dundee District Central Library, The Wellgate

Reference

D22021, Lamb Collection

Additional Notes

See also Dundee Natural History and Literary Society Magazine for more information about The Republic of Letters, and Dundee Literary and Scientific Institute Magazine.

These magazines were collected in the 1860s by A.C. Lamb, a Dundee temperance hotelier. Many of the societies represented met on premises owned by either himself or, in earlier decades, in his father Thomas’ coffee house. Lamb was often involved in society life himself, and his collection of over 450 boxes covers a wide range of material relating to literature, poetry, culture and politics in Victorian Dundee. For more information on this material, please contact local.history@leisureandculturedundee.com.