Overview

According to the opening article in the first issue of this magazine, the Abbey Foregate Congregational Church Literary Society was founded in 1893. Meetings were held weekly, and it was quite a large society of predominantly young men and women: it was reported that between two and three hundred people often attended, and the number grew to three or four hundred by 1897.

It was three years before they decided to start their own magazine. The first issue was put into print in March 1896 and cost 2d. The second issue appeared over a year later in April 1897, and the cost went up to 3d. It seems that production costs were covered by both the subscriptions and the advertisements for local businesses that are included at the front and back of both issues. Each issue is 18 pages in length.

This miscellany contains a mixture of various non-fiction articles, a few fictional stories, a number of reports on past society meetings and several original photographs that accompany the articles.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Abbey Foregate Congregational Church Literary Society (Shrewsbury)

Date of Existence

1896?-1897?

Date of Magazine

March 1896 and April 1897

Number of Issues

2

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print (Shrewsbury: W. G. Napier, Printer, 1896); (Shrewsbury: W. G. Napier, Printer, 1897)

Contents and Contributions

Advertisements; Articles (non-fiction); Fiction/Narratives; Photographs; Poems (original); Poem (republished material); Reports; Table of Contents; Title pages

Repository

Shropshire Archives (Shrewsbury)

Reference

NO4212/7/1/1-2

This magazine was created by some members of staff employed by James Budgett and Son Limited. This company began as a wholesale grocer in 1857 in central London, and became a wholesale tea and coffee company in 1875. In this year, they moved up the road to Eastcheap, while the business for its sugar, rice and fruit was conducted by a new company that remained at their old premises at Monument Yard.

The magazine was intended to be ‘the commercial Edition’ of the popular and hugely influential Punch, and its creators were keen to make clear that it was produced ‘off the firm’s premises’ and not on company time. Its audience was to include the other employees of the company, and the hope was that they might contribute to its numbers: ‘We cordially invite suggestions and shall be glad to receive any items of news or gossip likely to prove of interest to our readers’ (W. Aitch, ‘Editorial’, Budgett’s Budget, No. 1, Vol. I, April 1909, p. 8). The contents of the issues did indeed include such ‘news or gossip’, and also regular features such as: amusing biographies of staff members; cartoons; ‘Chatter’, which consists of in-jokes regarding company employees and policies, and humorous poetry and ‘Proverbs’ on the same; and an editorial column at the back.

The first issue was produced in April 1909, and issues appeared monthly for the following five months. The next issues were created in March and April 1910, between April and June 1914, and the last extant issue appeared in October 1919, for a total of 11 numbers usually consisting of eight pages each. The production of this magazine was subject to the business cycle, at least in the case of the first year of its production, and no magazines were produced when the fruit season ended.

While the first issues were hand-written, starting with the April 1914 issue, the magazine was typescript. Beyond a change in the use of technology, by at least 1919, the readership (and contributors?) included women company and magazine staff members. The contributions in the last extant issue often mention the First World War and the national railway strike, reflecting the personal and commercial impact of these events on staff and the company itself.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

(Company staff at James Budgett and Son Limited) (London)

Date of Existence

1909?-1910?

Dates of Magazine

Apr.-Sept. 1909, Mar.-Apr. 1910, Apr. and June 1914, Oct. 1919

Number of Issues

11

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript and later typescript

Contents and Contributions

Art/Illustrations (original); Biographies of staff; Cartoons; Editorials ; Jokes; Photographs; Poems (original); Prefaces; Tables of Contents; Title pages

Repository

London Metropolitan Archives

Reference

CLC/B/133/MS20372

Overview

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

The first issue of this magazine was produced in January 1893, four months after the club was founded. According to its Editor, the magazine was ‘instituted in order to allow those who are not public speakers or orators to contribute in writing original pieces of Literature’ (Andrew Ross, ‘Editorial’, New Literary Club Magazine, 18 January 1893, p. 3). At that point, the club had not yet worked out what pieces to include within it, but members generally agreed that these should be on subjects ‘which are common and instructive to all’ (Ibid).

There are 9 issues of this (mostly) monthly magazine bound into four volumes. With the exception of one poem in typescript in the December 1893 issue, all of the pieces are in manuscript.

Most of the issues run about 40 pages each with between 9 and 17 contributions (including the frontispieces). The largest issues were those produced in Summer 1894 and Spring 1895, which average about 130 pages and just over 20 contributions apiece (the largest, the Summer 1894 issue, having 27 contributions).

These issues contain mostly prose works with about ten percent of the contributions overall being poems, all of which are in the authors’ own handwriting, with most choosing to sign their own names. There are also a small number of puzzles and games throughout.

While this club was restricted to men, from the editorials, we know that women contributed a few pieces  (a small percentage overall) of artwork to its magazine. The artwork is in a variety of media, but a sizeable percentage of the illustrations are in pencil, which is a bit unusual.

There is one (extant) issue of the magazine that the club produced under its new name, the Literary Twenty-One Club, which clearly carries on the format and style of the previous issues that were produced by the group as the New Literary Club, with several of its old members staying on (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

The New Literary Club was formed in 1892. In 1896, it became the Literary Twenty-one Club. Even later, it amalgamated with the Holyrood Literary Society and took its name on 24 September 1897. On 3 October 1899, it changed its name to The Holyrood Literary Club, thento  The New Holyrood Literary Club. Later it was simply known as The Holyrood Club. (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

9 September 1892 – 21 April 1896; 21 April 1896 – 24 September 1897 (as Literary Twenty-One Club); on 24 September 1897 it amalgamated with Holyrood Literary Society and took its name

Date of Magazine

January 1893; [February?] 1893; [March?] 1893; October 1893; November 1893; December 1893; January 1894; Summer 1894; Spring 1895

Number of Issues

9 issues in 3 bound volumes

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Annotations; Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Circulation List; Club notices; Editorials; Epilogue; Essays; Frontispieces; Jokes; Letters to Editor; Maps; Music; Photographs; Poems (original); Poems (republished material); Poem (translation); Prize competition; Puzzles; Readers’ criticisms (unused section); Serial articles/stories; Sketches; Song (original); Table of Contents

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference

(Note: The records for this club are housed together with the records of The Holyrood Club (891047))

Additional Notes

See also entry for New Literary Club on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

See also The Literary Twenty-One Club Magazine and The Holyrood Magazine.

Overview

A summary of the history of the Lansdowne Young Men’s Christian Association (aka L.Y.M.C.A.) is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

According to the editorial in the first issue produced in November 1890, the idea to found a magazine was raised at a business meeting of the society held the month before. It was felt that a magazine would provide a ‘lasting benefit’ to the contributors (those young men and women from Landsdowne United Presbyterian Church) as well as its readers. In addition, it was to ‘be a means whereby the spark of social interest in one another’s affairs might be kept aglow & stimulated’ (John G. Miller and James Macfarlane [Editors], ‘To Our Readers’, Our Magazine (Lansdowne Young Men’s Christian Association), Part 1, November 1890, p. 1).

Including an issue solely devoted to its members’ artwork, there are seven issues of this society’s magazine. These are all individually hand stitched (which was not usual for these magazines), and are in kept in five hardcover, A5-sized binders with imprinted covers. The magazine began as a monthly, but by 1891, had become bi-monthly.

Each issue is roughly between 90 and 120 pages with between 20 and 25 contributions, these being a mixture of poetry and prose contributions, along with original artwork in various media as well as photographs. The authors and artists included members and non-members, men and women who mostly left their pieces anonymous, or they signed with pen-names or an initial or initials (presumably with the intention of being identifiable). Only a very small percentage of contributors used their first or full names.

The Art Supplement has 14 contributions that include pen-and-ink drawings, paintings in watercolours and in oil, as well as photographs, including a photo of the group members annotated underneath ‘Our Noble Selves’. Of note in the first issue (November 1890), there are photographs identified as being salt paper prints.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Lansdowne Young Men’s Christian Association (L.Y.M.C.A.)

Date of Existence

1890?-1892?

Date of Magazine

Part 1 (Nov. 1890); Part 2 (Dec. 1890); No. 3, Vol. I (25 Feb. 1891); No. 4, Vol. I (25 Apr. 1891); Part 1, Art Supplement to Our Magazine (Nov. 1891); No. II (Dec. 1891); Vol. II (Apr. 1892)

Number of Issues

7 (includes Art Supplement) (extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Correspondence column; Essays; Fiction/Narratives; Letters to Editor; Poems (original); Photographs; Proverbs; Serial articles/stories; Sketches; Tables of Contents (located at the back of each issue); Title pages

Repository

Glasgow City Archives

Reference

TD864/2/1-7

Additional Notes

See also entry for Lansdowne Young Men’s Christian Association (aka L.Y.M.C.A.) on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

Overview

A summary of the history of the Free Anderston Church Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

This society appears to have had a dynamic group of members that contributed to and supported the production of this magazine for over twenty years. The magazine was issued (mostly) monthly during the yearly session, which ran from October until April; like most societies, there were no meetings held (nor magazines issued) during the summer.

The length of each issue varies a good deal, and is dependent upon the number of pieces and the length of each contribution, which did not appear to have a limit as did some magazines. Each bound volume contains roughly a couple hundred pages (e.g. Vols. II-II, bound into one hardcover book, has 410 pages, while Vol. XIII, one of the slimmest, has approximately 200).

Each contribution is in the author’s own handwriting, but the authors are on the whole not identifiable: pieces are either anonymous, signed with a pen-name, or more rarely with an initial or initials. However, when accompanied by artwork and/or other materials, each contributor’s individuality and creativity shines through, and the care that was taken in the magazine’s production is quite evident. These issues were valued and intended to be preserved.

There is a wide variety of subjects covered in the articles, essays, and poems. There is also a range of means used to illustrate these contributions: each issue (particularly the later ones) includes much good quality, detailed artwork in a range of media (pen-and-ink and watercolour being the most popular, although oil paintings are not uncommon). There are also a number of photographs, swatches of fabric, and cuttings from various printed media, which includes a map that has been folded and bound into one of the volumes. Most issues have an elaborate illustrated cover, as shown in the example of the photograph included here.

It was only in the 1890s in the later issues of the resurrected monthly entitled The Literary Magazine that Readers’ Criticisms’ — the comments that readers wrote into the blank pages of the magazine left for this purpose — were introduced. This section is located at the back of each issue, and readers mostly used pen-names. In a few cases, individual members can be identified by their initials.

The circulation lists for The Literary Bond only list men that are presumably members. The lists from the later 1890s issues show that by this time the society allowed women to join, and, from the ‘Readers’ Criticisms’, we know that they contributed many of the pieces to the magazine.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Free Anderston Church Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society (later became the Free Anderston Church Literary Society) (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1849-1897?

Dates of Magazine

The Literary Bond: the Mitchell Library has Vol. 2 (Sept. 1862) – Vol. 13 (Dec. 1875), Vol. 16, No. 1 (Oct. 1876) – Vol. 18 (October 1879), and Vol. 21 (October 1881) – Vol. 22, No. 6 (March 1883) (Vols. 14, 15, 19 and 20 no longer extant?);

The Literary Magazine: the Mitchell Library has Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jan. 1896) – Vol. 2, No. 2 (Feb. 1897)

Number of Issues

The Literary Bond: 15 bound volumes containing a total of 121 issues;

The Literary Magazine: 2 bound volumes. (The total number of issues for this later magazine is currently unknown as Volume 2 was unavailable for viewing at time of research.)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Annotations; Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Circulation Lists; Cuttings (printed materials); Editorials; Essays; Fiction/Narrative; Letters; Letters to Editor; Magazine Rules; Music; Photographs; Poems (original); Prefaces; Readers’ Criticisms; Reviews; Serial articles/stories; Sketches; Tables of Contents

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference

Mitchell (AL), 891310 (The Literary Bond)

Mitchell (AL), 891311 (The Literary Magazine)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Free Anderston Church Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

Overview

A summary of the history of the New Literary Club (which later became the Literary Twenty-One Club) is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

There is one (extant) issue of this club’s magazine, which clearly carries on the format and style of the previous issues that were produced by the group under its former name, the New Literary Club, with several of its old members staying on. (See entry for New Literary Club Magazine.)

There are 107 pages in this issue. At the front, there is a list of 20 members with their respective addresses. The 15 contributions (see accompanying photo of the ‘Contents’) are mostly prose pieces with only one original poem; an article on Robert Burns, however, transcribes extracts of several of his poems. The artwork in this issue is in various media, the most common being watercolour. There are also several photographs.

Of interest is a recurring feature called a ‘Page of Confessions’, which is a list of ‘favourite’ items that must be filled in (e.g. ‘Your favourite Author’; ‘Your favourite Book’, etc., ending with ‘What is the height of your ambition’). There are three examples of these ‘confessions’ in this issue. While one contributor professed to love Charles Lamb and the Bible, another’s reported favourite author was the French Renaissance writer and philosopher, Michael Sieur de Montaigne (1533-1592) and favourite book was The Compleat Angler (1653). One example of the ‘Page of Confessions’ also appears in The Holyrood Magazine, which was produced later.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Literary Twenty-One Club (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

21 Apr. 1896-26 Mar. 1898

Date of Magazine

1896

Number of Issues

1

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Circulation List; Editorial; Essays; Frontispiece; Map; Music; Photographs; Poem (original); Poem (republished material); Readers’ criticisms (pages left blank); Sketch; Table of Contents

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference

(Note: The records for this club are housed together with the records of The Holyrood Club (891047))

Additional Notes

See also entry for New Literary Club (later became Literary Twenty-One Club) on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.