Overview

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

There is only one extant issue of this group’s manuscript magazine. It consists of 136 pages with 11 contributions bound in one hardcover volume. There does not appear to be a limit set to the length of the pieces (as was the case with some magazines): the four longest articles and essays are between 20 and 27 pages, with others being between 5 and 10. There are also three original poems (one in dialect), but no artwork appears in this issue.

The contributors either leave their pieces unsigned or they use a pen-name. However, these may all have been re-written by the magazine’s editors (?): it appears that there are only two different handwriting styles in the entire issue.

The first two articles in this miscellany are interesting as they relate the early history of the Institution and, along with a group photograph of the members that is dated 1856, we learn the histories of some of the early members. The last two pieces in the magazine are in fact obituaries of two former members.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

The Spoutmouth Institution (1848-1851), then became The Spoutmouth Bible Institution (22 September 1851-1940?)

Date of Existence

10 June 1848-1940?

Date of Magazine

No. II, 16 May 1873

Number of Issues

1 (extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Annotations; Articles (non-fiction); Essays; Obituaries; Photograph (members); Poems (original); Serial article/story; Table of Contents; Title page

Repository

Glasgow City Archives

Reference

CH3/1281/16

Additional Notes

See also entry for Spoutmouth Bible Institution on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

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.

The mutual improvement group that produced this magazine was based at River Terrace Church (River Terrace was later renamed Colebrooke Row), Islington, London. The church was built in 1834 for its Scottish congregation. The River Terrace Young Men’s Association later became The River Terrace Bible Class, before changing again to the Islington Presbyterian Church Young Men’s Association in 1862.

There are two minute books (also housed in the London Metropolitan Archives) and three extant volumes of a manuscript magazine from this later group (see also LMA catalogue for the records of the earlier River Terrace groups). From these, we know that the association was made up of young Scottish men that met weekly at the church between December and June, a session that was a bit unusual for this type of society.  The object of the association was the ‘moral, intellectual and religious improvement of the Young men connected with the church’. Women were allowed to join as full members in January 1891. Four years after its founding, the group started its own manuscript magazine for its members.

In 1866, the first issue of The Aemulus was produced. The contributions to the issue were previously read aloud at the society’s ‘Magazine Nights’. ‘Magazine Evenings’ or ‘Magazine Nights’ were meetings that were devoted to the reading of original essays (or occasionally poems) written by group members that were submitted to the Magazine Editor beforehand. The Editor would be responsible for collecting, occasionally selecting, and reading the pieces aloud to the group (more rarely this was done by the contributor him/herself) on the appointed night. This would be followed by ‘criticism’ — or discussion on the piece’s positive and negative points — by the group members.

After the meetings, these contributions were sometimes bound and saved in the society’s library (if they had one) or would be kept by one of the office bearers. In these cases, it was intended that the magazine was to be preserved and that group members would have access to it at a later date. It is of note that literary and mutual improvement groups used the term ‘magazine’ to refer to the oral as well as the material medium.

The 1866 volume serves as a ‘typical’ example of the later volumes. There are 35 prose pieces, 14 poems (of which two that are listed as such in the front ‘Index’ are acrostics), one musical score for piano and one voice, three illustrations, and six photographs of Office Bearers. According to the ‘Preface’, the pieces were produced over the course of one year, and nineteen members and two non-members contributed.

As the Editor, Thomas William Thacker, wrote at the beginning of the volume, ‘[t]his manuscript magazine was started to give the members of the Islington Presbyterian Church Young Men’s Association a means of committing to paper thoughts more or less matured. It is strictly anonymous: and few beyond the fellow members have seen the parts as they were issued month by month.’ While the group continued to meet until 1894 (at least), it is currently unknown if they continued to produce their magazine after 1878.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Islington Presbyterian Church Young Men’s Association (London)

Date of Existence

1862-1894?

Date of Magazine

Vol. I, ‘(Parts IX)’, 1866; Vol. III, 1868-1869; Vol. III [sic], 1878

Number of Issues

3

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Editorials; Essays; Indexes; Lists of Office Bearers; Magazine Rules; Music; Photographs (members); Poems (original); Prefaces; Puzzles; Title pages

Repository

London Metropolitan Archives

Reference

LMA/4303/E/04/015;
LMA/4303/E/04/016;
LMA/4303/E/04/017

Members of this literary club were enrolled at Edinburgh Collegiate College. Opened in 1868, the College was located at Nos. 27/28, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. From a photograph of the group in the 1871 magazine, the club was quite small (if all members were indeed present), there being only five boys in the photo.

The number of contributions to this magazine is unusually large: there are 51 pieces, and 39 illustrations that are listed separately in the table of contents at the front. The entire issue has a hefty total of 694 pages, particularly considering that it only had 13 contributors that included non-members of the group (see below). It may be that the pieces were written over a number of months and were collected and bound into one volume for a Christmas number.

According to the magazine’s list of rules, contributors did not have to be a member of the club. Although anonymous contributions were permitted, many of the authors signed their names at the end of their pieces. The order of the contributions was determined by the date when they were received by the Editor, who could reject any unsuitable material. Swearing and ‘bad language’ was not allowed.

Further, the group voted for those who were allowed to contribute, and could democratically dismiss them as well. Contributors had to submit a piece of not less than four pages to every other issue of the magazine. The order of reading was determined by the order in which the contributions were received, and each reader only had 2 nights to keep the issue. Emphasis was placed on original stories and artwork. Interestingly, the group wished to underscore the seriousness of their endeavours and of their club’s rules by punishing transgressors: Rule XI states ‘That Punishment be determined by ballot.’

Perhaps not surprising for this age group, this magazine is more of a boys’ adventure magazine, with serial fictional stories by the contributors, with simple accompanying illustrations of ships, campfire scenes, or of imaginative exotic places, many of the stories even having their own illustrated title page at the start. Other contributions include filler materials like enigmas and riddles.

The next extant issue of The Edinburgh Collegiate Magazine dates from March 1890 and is a print magazine. According to the ‘Editorial’, the College magazine was being revived after lapsing around 1885. This is a slimmer volume with 12 contributions including the editorial, ‘Correspondence’ and ‘Notice to Contributors’ features. Primarily, it reports on the College’s activities and this issue focuses on the sports clubs. The next extant issue dates from February 1891 and also contains college news and sports, but includes articles on Emily Bronte and a couple of travel stories.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Edinburgh Collegiate Club

Date of Existence

1871?-1891?

Date of Magazine

Christmas 1871; No. 1, March 1890; Vol. II, No. 1, February 1891

Number of Issues

3 (extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript (Christmas 1871); Print (No. 1, March 1890; Vol. II, No. 1, February 1891)

Contents and Contributions

Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Correspondence column; Editorials; Essays; Letter to Editor; List of contributors; Magazine Rules; Photograph (members); Poems (original); Puzzles; Riddles;  Serial articles/stories; Table of Contents; Title page

Repository

Edinburgh Central Library (ECL) (Christmas 1871; No. 1, March 1890; Vol. II, No. 1, February 1891)

National Library of Scotland (NLS) (Vol. II, No. 1, February 1891)

Reference

ECL reference for Christmas Number: Class No. YLF 1135 E23 C; Book No. C5564;

ECL reference for 1890-91 print magazines: Class No. qYLF 1135 E23 C; Book No. 21311

NLS reference for Vol. II, No. 1, February 1891: Q.50