Overview

A summary of the history of the Glasgow Philological and Literary Club is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

‘A Book of “Ours”‘ is the only magazine that was produced by this group. According to the ‘Prefatory Note’, it was the result of a meeting held on 22 February 1907 at which one of the members read a paper about the club, highlighting it with his original sketches using lantern slides prepared by another member. The effect was a hit, and a Committee duly formed to see about the preservation of the sketches, and about adding other materials, the audience for which would be the group members and their friends.

The result is a lively, good-humoured magazine full of tributes to and insights about the club along with insider jokes, which were the subjects of its eclectic mix of poetry, toasts, and songs that are accompanied numerous sketches, cartoons and photographs. The spirit of one of camaraderie and bonhomie between its members.

The magazine has 44 pages (unpaginated). In addition to the ‘Prefatory Note’, it contains: six poems; one toast in the form of a poem; three souvenirs/poems; six songs or ballads; two toast lists, four menus with toast lists, and three programmes/menus from club dinners; a humorous, mock list of rules; a rebus of the 1896-7 session; twelve pages of illustrations and cartoons; and six pages of photographs of the members.

It is currently unknown how many copies of this magazine was produced.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Glasgow Philological and Literary Club (aka This Club of Ours, Our Literary and Social Club, or ‘Ours’ Club) (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1871-present

Date of Magazine

1909

Number of Issues

1

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print (Glasgow: Wm. Lyon, 1909)

Contents and Contributions

Art/Illustrations (original); Ballads (original); Menus (Club suppers); Outing schedules (Club excursions); Photographs(members); Poems (original); Preface; Programmes (Club supper); Puzzles; Rules (mock); Songs (original);  Souvenirs; Toast Lists (Club supper)

Repository

University of Glasgow Special Collections

Reference

‘A Book of “Ours”‘ (“Ours” Literary and Social Club. A book of “Ours.” Contributions by the members. [Andrew Lyon, Editor] (Glasgow, 1909) (Sp Coll Bh11-c.28, Wylie Collection)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Glasgow Philological and Literary Club (aka This Club of Ours or ‘Ours’ Club) on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

Overview

There are 12 issues of this monthly print magazine dating from June 1887 to May 1888 which were bound together in one volume in 1888. The entire volume is a total of 240 pages with each issue having 20 pages.

In the ‘Preface’, to Our Mutual Friend — a title chosen from the work of Charles Dickens —  it is stated that the periodical was founded by members of the Bold Street Wesleyan Improvement Society and intended for local circulation, but the group desired to have it preserved in a more permanent form. Members of other ‘improving’ groups in Warrington and the local region also contributed. The magazine was non-political and non-denominational, but was more generally framed as a Christian magazine.

Following the ‘Preface’, there is a ‘List of Contributors’. Of the 32 listed, most of them are men, of which there are seven Reverends and one Alderman. There are also four women contributors, three being unmarried women and one married.

The ‘Index’ at the front lists the contents by month. This miscellany contains mostly prose articles and essays along with serial fictional stories, with about a quarter of each issue being original poetry.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

[Various Literary and Mutual Improvement Societies of Warrington, St Helens and the Surrounding District]

Date of Existence

1887?-1888?

Date of Magazine

1 June 1887-1 May 1888

Number of Issues

Vol. I (12 issues)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print

Contents and Contributions

Articles (non-fiction); Ballad (original); Correspondence column; Editorials; Essays; Fiction/Narratives; Hymn; Index; List of contributors; News (local branches of society); Poems (original); Preface; Title page

Repository

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, held at Cheshire Record Office (Chester)

Reference

EMC 21/5334/149

This society was based at Park Church, located on Grosvenor Lane, Highbury, London, which was a Scottish Presbyterian church. It had a thriving middle-class congregation, and several active clubs and societies attached to it, including this young men’s literary association. The society was founded in 1859, and their later minute books — also housed at London Metropolitan Archives —  still survive.

Whilst initially made up of young Scottish men, after 1895, women were allowed to join as full members. Overall, this was a fairly good-sized group, with an average of 63 members between 1881 and 1897, and its membership appears to have risen slightly in the first decades of the twentieth century to around 77 members.

There are 15 extant issues of this association’s magazine, eight of which date from 1901 to 1911 (falling within our study’s time frame of 1800 and 1914), and were the sole focus in this project. This miscellany has a variety of fiction and non-fiction pieces on a variety of topics, and the number of original poems is a bit higher than other mutual improvement and literary society magazines. There are also several biographical pieces on canonical authors such as Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Kingsley and Charles Lamb.

A particularly notable feature of this magazine was the elaborate, handcrafted covers and bindings that were used, with most issues having an elaborate outer cover that was attached to the inner magazine with a colourful ribbon. The most elaborate of these was a needlepoint cover, the design of which was taken from a book cover housed in the British Museum that was said to be made by Queen Elizabeth. This magazine was intended to be saved and was perhaps a treasured production of this society.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Park Church Literary Society (in association with Park Presbyterian Church, Grosvenor Place, Highbury, Islington, London)

Date of Existence

1859-1939?

Date of Magazine

1901-1911; 1929-1937

Number of Issues

The Highbury Magazine, No. 2 (1901); No. 3 (1902); No. 4 (1903); No. 6 (1905); No. 8 (1907); No. 9 (1908); No. 10 (1909); No. 12 (1911); 1 vol (1926-1927);

Park Church Literary Magazine, 1 vol. (1926-1927); 1 vol. (1930-1931)

(Within the date range of this study: 8 issues, 1901-1911.)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Advertisements (humorous); Articles (non-fiction); Ballad (original); Circulation List; Clippings (printed material); Correspondence column; Editorial; Fiction/Narratives; List of Office Bearers; Magazine Rules; Music; Poems (original); Tables of Contents; Title pages

Repository

London Metropolitan Archives

Reference

LMA/4366/B/008-15 (for later magazines, see: LMA/4303/E/02/043; LMA/4303/E/02/044)