Overview

There are nine extant issues of the manuscript magazine that was produced by this mutual improvement society. The title was taken from the poem, ‘Excelsior’, written in 1841 by the American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the poem’s message of struggling towards a righteous, distant goal was used as the group’s own precept. We do not know very much about the group itself as there are no other (known) records. Most likely, the society was associated with a local church in Liverpool as many of the contributions discuss religion and/or the Bible (e.g. a serial essay entitled, ‘Praising God, No. 2′), and it was firmly pro-temperance.

We do know that it was a fairly small society: there are 17 members listed in an (undated) magazine circulation list. It was a mixed-gender group, with 13 men and four unmarried women. The members lived in and around the Toxteth area of the city. (For more information about this area, see ‘History of Toxteth‘ on the Historic Liverpool website.) One of the women, however, lived in London.

Each issue of The Excelsior is approximately 100 pages with roughly 20 contributions apiece, and contain a mixture of prose and poetry, articles and essays, a couple of short musical scores, with a small number of original illustrations (mostly pen-and-ink, to which should be added the detailed artwork on the covers on Nos. 7, 8 and 10).

There are a couple of unique elements to this magazine. First, the contributors seemed to particularly like writing serials, both non-fiction and fictional pieces, with pieces commonly running through most of the issues. Second, the members appear to have taken the ‘improving’ element to heart, as beginning in the sixth issue, a ‘List of Errors in Spelling’ is added to the back, which ran up to five pages in issue No. 10. Finally, whilst not including a separate section for readers’ ‘criticisms’ per se, the Editor none-the-less allowed readers to write in to him with their remarks and he would include them in the next issue, a practice that readers took to with particular enthusiasm, or rather with vehemence; many of these are long letters outlining in detail the particular merits — and by no means neglecting the demerits — of the contributions.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

(currently unknown)

Date of Existence

1860?-1862?

Date of Magazine

No. 1, 1 October 1860; No. 2, 1 November 1860;  No. 3, [no date given], December 1860; [No. 4], January and February 1861; No. 5, March & April 1861; No. 6, 1 December 1861; No. 7, January 1862; No. 8, February 1862; [No. 9 no longer extant?]; No. 10, April 1862

Number of Issues

9

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Annotations; Art/Illustrations (original); Article s(non-fiction); Circulation List; Correspondence column; Editorials; Essays; Extracts (previously published works); Fiction/Narratives; Hymn; Letters to Editor; Lists of spelling errors; Music; Newspaper cutting; Poems (original); Poems (republished material); Poems (w/ original illustrations); Prefaces; Puzzle; Readers’ Criticisms; Serial articles/stories; Tables of Contents; Title pages

Repository

Liverpool Record Office, Central Library

Reference

H050 EXC

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

Whilst becoming more proficient in their rhetorical skills at their meetings, the purpose of starting a society magazine was so that members might improve their writing. The preface is in part a manifesto for the magazine, and quotes Lord Bacon: ‘reading makes a full man, speaking a ready man, and writing a correct man’. This was to become an oft-used phrase by literary societies more generally over the course of the nineteenth century.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Literary Debating Society (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1845?-1846?

Date of Magazine

Nos. 1-3, 1 December 1845 – 13 February 1846

Number of Issues

3

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print

Contents and Contributions

Articles (non-fiction); Notice (printed); Poem (translation); Preface; Song (vernacular)

Repository

University of Glasgow Special Collections

Reference

The Literary Magazine, ed. by members of the Literary Debating Society, No. 1 (Glasgow: Printed by George Richardson, 1845); The Literary Magazine, ed. by members of the Literary Debating Society, Dec. 1845-Feb. 1846 (Glasgow: George Richardson 1846) (Sp Coll Mu1-d.13; Sp Coll RB 3049)

[Note: the University of Glasgow Special Collections holds two copies]

Additional Notes

From the University of Glasgow online catalogue: ‘Library holds: No. 1-3, 1 Dec. 1845-13 Feb. 1846. Copy at Mu1-d.13 has front and back covers of no.1 & 2, and front cover of no. 3, bound in. Copy at RB 3049 is item 1 of 5 bound together’ [accessed 31 January 2018].

See also entry for Literary Debating Society on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

Overview

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

According to the preface in this printed magazine, the contributions to the issue were originally read at an association meeting held on 12 January 1899 at what would have been commonly called a ‘Magazine Evening’.

‘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.

This issue is a small volume of 39 pages with five non-fiction essays by authors who, with one possible exception (Rob Rogart; Rogart is a village as well as a parish in Sutherland), use Gaelic names or place names as pen-names. To give two examples, ‘Suilvein’, is the author of ‘A Communion Sunday in Assynt’. Suilvein is a prominent mountain in the west of Sutherland. This article gives a picturesque, reverential description of the landscape and the people of this parish who attend a Sunday service in early June presumably during recent times.

The second example is the pen-name,’Cluaidh’, which is Gaelic for Clyde, referencing the River Clyde in Glasgow. ‘Cluaidh’ is the pen-name of the author of ‘What’s in a Name?’, which is an essay on the assigning and changing of personal names. The piece ends with a commentary on the then recent debate on Rob Donn’s surname and its relative unimportance when compared to the appreciation of his art as a poet.

Interestingly, an excerpt from Donn’s poetry, along with from Dr Charles Mackay, is also included in the first article, ‘Extracts from “Glimpses of Sutherland Long Ago.” By “Craggandhu.”‘. (Rob Donn was a Gaelic poet from the area. For more information about Donn, see the article, ‘Rob Donn Mackay (1714 – 1778)‘, on the Scottish Poetry Library website. For more information about Dr Charles Mackay, see: Calder, Angus. ‘Mackay, Charles (1812–1889), poet and writer’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) <https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/17555> [24 April 2018]).

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Glasgow Sutherlandshire Association

Date of Existence

1857-?

Date of Magazine

12 January 1899

Number of Issues

1

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript, later in print (Glasgow: Archibald Sinclair, “Celtic Press”, 1899)

Contents and Contributions

Poems (republished material); Preface; Essays; Table of Contents

Repository

University of Glasgow Library

Reference

Glasgow Sutherlandshire Association, ‘Papers contributed to [the] Manuscript magazine. 12 January 1899’ (Glasgow: Archibald Sinclair, “Celtic Press”, 1899) (Library Research Annexe, Store 25964)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Glasgow Sutherlandshire Association 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

Overview

Like The College Stethescope, this magazine was founded by and for the students of the University of Glasgow (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

In the ‘Preface’, the purpose of the magazine was set out: ‘Our aim has been to relieve the severities of academical study, by furnishing a volume, in which instruction should be combined with amusement’ (‘Preface’, The Athenaeum, An Original Literary Miscellany, ed. by Students in the University of Glasgow (Glasgow: Printed by Hutchinson & Brookman, For Robertson & Atkinson; Constable & Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Chance & Co., London, MDCCCXXX [1830]), p. v).

There are 242 pages with 45 contributions in this magazine, which consists of essays and poems. There are a few translations of poems into English, but also a couple translated from English into Latin and Greek. There is roughly an equal mix of poetry and prose.

Authors sometimes chose to identify themselves, but in a number of cases either their initials or a pen-name was used. Original pieces appear alongside works by (more) established authors and poets. For example, several of Thomas Atkinson’s poems appear in this volume. (For more information about Thomas Atkinson (1801?–1833), see the article, ‘Atkinson, Thomas (1801?-1833)‘, by Thomas Finlayson Henderson in Volume 2 of the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, which is available on the Wikisource website. See also the entry for ‘Atkinson, Thomas, ? 1801-1833, poet and writer, bookseller‘ on the University of Strathclyde Archives website.)

According to the ‘Preface’, contributions were accepted from various quarters and not just from the students nor just from men: ‘extra-collegiate friends’ were thanked, as was one Mrs. Grant of Laggan for her poem.

It is currently unknown if any further issues were produced.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

(Students of the University of Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1830-?

Date of Magazine

1830

Number of Issues

1

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print (Glasgow: Printed by Hutchinson & Brookman, For Robertson & Atkinson; Constable & Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Chance & Co., London, MDCCCXXX [1830])

Contents and Contributions

Articles (non-fiction); Dedication page; Essays; Fiction/Narrative; Poems (original); Poems (republished material); Poems (translation); Preface; Reviews; Table of Contents

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

University of Glasgow Special Collections (UGSC)

Reference

Mitchell (GC) 311821 (MLSC)

Sp Coll Bh12-g.39; Sp Coll Mu21-d.22 (two copies available) (UGSC)

Additional Notes

See also The College Stethescope and Literary Index.

Overview

A summary of the history of the Free St. Peter’s Young Men’s Association is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

The earlier manuscript magazine dates from January 1871, and is a bit smaller than other periodicals of this type (approximately A5 size). According to the Editor, this was the third magazine that the society had produced in the 1870-71 session, thus it was a monthly periodical.

The magazine has 118 pages and includes 11 contributions. This issue is framed within a report on the meeting of the society regarding the production of the current issue, which quickly breaks down into a story-telling and singing session, with members taking it in turns. The contributions are mostly prose, with only three poems. However, many of the prose contributions include a combination of poems, songs and illustrations. The contributors are all anonymous. The illustrations are pen-and-ink, and the title page is pen-and-ink and watercolour.

The later print magazine from 1883 is housed in the University of Glasgow Special Collections. According to the Editor’s ‘Preface’, the contributions to the magazine are by the current members of the congregation or those who were formerly connected with it. The illustrations are, however, almost entirely by ‘outsiders’.

This magazine has 80 pages with 19 contributions. Including the frontispiece, there are 10 illustrations, all of which are not included in the pagination (this number does not include the illustration of the church on the title page). There are slightly more prose pieces than poems, numbering 11 and 8 respectively. Five contributors use pen-names and there are two unsigned pieces. The rest of the essays and poems are signed with either the authors’ own name or initials. There is one article that is possibly by a woman entitled, ‘Lords of Creation’, a piece which challenges men’s so-called superiority, and is signed by ‘Female Modesty’.

This literary society magazine is of note as at least three of its contributors were–or were to become–men of some import in the community. The first contribution in the magazine is a nature poem called ‘A Wild Geranium’, and is written by Hugh Macmillan. Macmillan was the then current minister of the church, and the poem reflects his keen interest in botany. (For more information about Macmillan, see ‘Hugh Macmillan‘ on The Glasgow Story website).

The second piece, a review of a new biography of James Clerk Maxwell, which includes an overview of his life, is written by James Brown. This was probably Reverend James Brown. (For more information about Brown, see ‘2nd Lieutenant Alexander Brown‘ on The University of Glasgow Story website.)

The last example is an article entitled ‘Some Glasgow Churches’ that was written by A. M’Gibbon and was accompanied by his wonderfully detailed drawings of the churches he discusses. The author/illustrator was almost certainly Alexander M’Gibbon (alternatively McGibbon) (1861?-1938), who, at the time of the publication of this magazine, was working as a draughtsman for John Honeyman. M’Gibbon later became an influential teacher at the Glasgow School of Art. (For more information about M’Gibbon, see the entry for ‘Alexander McGibbon‘ on The Dictionary of Scottish Architects, 1660-1980 website.)

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Free St. Peter’s Young Men’s Association (later became Free St. Peter’s Literary Society) (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1871?-?

Date of Magazine

January 1871; 1883

Number of Issues

2 (extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript (January 1871); Print (1883) (Glasgow: Dunn & Wright, 1883)

Contents and Contributions

Annotation; Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Circulation list (1871); Editorial (x2) (1871); Essays; Fiction/Narrative; Fiction/Narrative (vernacular) (1871); Frontispiece; Poems (original); Preface; Table of Contents

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (Jan. 1871 issue)

University of Glasgow Special Collections (UGSC) (1883 issue)

Reference

321129, GO52 BLY (MLSC)

Sp Coll Robertson Bf68-b.23 (UGSC)

Additional Notes

The Free St Peter’s Literary Society Magazine (1883) housed in the University of Glasgow Special Collections is part of the Alexander Robertson collection, and is item 8 of 9 bound together.

See also entry for Free St. Peter’s Young Men’s Association (later became Free St. Peter’s Literary Society) on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

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 Calton Wesleyan-Methodist Congregational Young Men’s Society is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

There are fifteen issues of this monthly magazine bound into one hard-cover volume. This includes the Supplement to the Magazine for December 1839 (Vol. I, No. XI), and contains an Index (pp. 282-4) to all the previous issues, including the supplement. The volume is paginated from pages 1 to 329, but is unnumbered in the March through May 1840 issues. Each issue is between 25 and 30 pages.

The March through December 1839 issues are all edited by Gilbert Currie. Interestingly, all these pieces appear to be in his own handwriting. The remaining issues — perhaps under a different editor — also appear to be written by one or two different hands. This was an uncommon practice in mutual improvement and literary groups. It was usually done to try to maintain the anonymity of the authors as their respective handwriting was presumably recognisable by other group members. This practice also helped to give a uniformity to the magazine, which, for some societies was of some import. In this case, it appears to have been to preserve anonymity and uniformity, as the authors of some of the original articles and poems used pen-names, and the handwriting gives the issues a consistency in appearance.

Like other mutual improvement (including church) societies’ magazines, this is also a miscellany. However, while other society periodicals generally include contributions written on a wide range of topics, many of the pieces in this magazine are on religious issues and doctrine, and there are a number of reports on missionary activities abroad. Similarly, most of the essays and poems are moralistic in flavour. It appears that this magazine acts more as an extension and means of broadcasting the church’s work rather than being an object for facilitating ‘improvement’ and providing amusement, which was more the norm.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Calton Wesleyan-Methodist Congregational Young Men’s Society (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1839?-1840?

Date of Magazine

Mar. 1839-Jan. 1840, with Supplement to Dec. 1839; (no February 1840 issue; not extant?), Mar. 1840-May 1840

Number of Issues

15 (includes supplement)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Address; Articles (non-fiction); Correspondence column; Didactic works (reproduced); Essays; Hymns; Letters; Letters to Editor; Poems (original); Poems (republished material); Preface; Reports; Table of Contents

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference

NFF124/6/81, 5585510-585510a

Additional Notes

See also entry for Calton Wesleyan-Methodist Congregational Young Men’s Society on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

Overview

This literary group was a bit unusual in that the members formed solely for the purpose of producing a magazine of original works. While they referred to their group as an ‘Association’ and collected subscriptions, it appears that they did not hold any formal meetings. It started as a group of 10 young men (women were allowed later) that were initially asked to join by F. J. Osborn, who would act as the magazine’s Editor.

Osborn, in his ‘Editorial’ in the first number, explains his methods of persuasion to elicit contributions: after convincing one young man to contribute an article, he would then approach another acquaintance and tell him that ‘Fizgog’ has sent in his contribution. He would then go on to say it was such a poor production that surely he (the acquaintance) could produce something better. This ‘harmless subterfuge’ appears not to have been necessary after the launch of the first issue as contributors were more forthcoming thereafter.

According to the magazine’s rules in the first number, each member of the group was to aim for contributing an article every month, but was certainly to do so at least every three months. The magazine was to be kept for four days only (this would later change to 48 hours) and then passed on to the next member on the list or he would have to pay a fine of 1d per day. Friends were allowed to read the magazine, but the listed member was responsible for its condition. Later on, contributions were accepted from non-members. In the first issues, the Editor re-wrote each of the pieces submitted, and the authors’ artwork was cut and pasted in.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

(Currently unknown) (Hertford)

Date of Existence

1904?-1911?

Date of Magazine

March 1904 – May 1911

Number of Issues

70

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript and Typescript

Contents and Contributions

Advertisements (humorous); Art/Illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Circulation Lists; Editorials; Essays; Fiction/Narratives; Jokes; Letters to Editor; Magazine Rules; Notices; Prefaces; Puzzles; Readers’ Criticisms; Sketches; Tables of Contents; Title pages

Repository

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) (Hertford)

Reference

DE/FJO/A11/1-70