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

Like The Athenaeum, this magazine was founded by and for the students of the University of Glasgow (see ‘Additional Notes’ below). The idea to start a periodical was raised at a student meeting presumably in late 1827.  There are four issues of this weekly magazine, each of which is only four pages. It is unknown if further issues were produced after January 1828.

The students voted unanimously to start a magazine that would contain their original contributions. The difficulty they had was deciding what they would call it. The first issue reports on the discussions that ensued and the few suggestions that were offered, including the ‘Stethescope and Literary Index’. The stethoscope being, apparently, mostly unknown, and the student defines it to his colleagues as he was told it by an acquaintance, a medical student:

‘…that it was an instrument, used to detect disease in the internals, by an application of it to the bared breast of the patient, I judged that this would be a most original title for our work, and withal, superlatively suitable’ ([Editorial], The College Stethescope and Literary Index, No. I, 3 January 1828, p. 1).

The Chairman then laid out the purpose of the magazine as follows:

‘…it will take cognizance of the whole internal arrangement of the University, the Lord Rector, Principal, Professors, and the various classes of students, in the several departments of Divinity, Law, Literature and Medicine, in order that, in cases where diseases shall be found to exist, it may by a timely application of purgatives and correctives, prevent further devastation of the College frame.
As a Literary Index, it will embrace original productions of every kind, whether in prose or verse, serious criticisms, or humorous sketches; in short, every species of writing, except polemical divinity’ (Ibid).

The magazine was priced at 1d, which was to cover the printing and delivery costs. Generally, each issue has the same layout: there are one or two articles followed by one or two poems or songs, with the correspondence column at the very end. The articles are anonymous and presumably by the Editor/s, but the poetry and songs are signed with the contributors’ initials.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

(Students of the University of Glasgow)

Date of Existence

3 Jan. 1828-?

Date of Magazine

3 Jan. 1828

Number of Issues

1

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Print

Contents and Contributions

Articles (non-fiction); Correspondence column; Editorial; Essays; Poems (original); Reviews; Songs

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference

Mitchell (AL) 890768

Additional Notes

See also The Athenaeum: An Original Literary Miscellany.