The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850 Part 12

The _North American Medical and Surgical Journal_, January, 1826, to October, 1831, was published quarterly.

The _Alb.u.m and Ladies Weekly Gazette_, begun June 7, 1826, by T. C.

Clarke, changed its name to the _Philadelphia Alb.u.m and Ladies' Literary Port Folio_, and was edited by Robert Morris after consolidation with the _Ladies' Literary Port Folio_.

The _Casket, Flowers of Literature, Wit and Sentiment_ was a magazine published in newspaper form. It was made out of the _Sat.u.r.day Evening Post_, and was first issued by Samuel Coate Atkinson, at No. 36 Carter's Alley, January 1, 1827. Elizabeth Margaret Chandler (1807-1834) won a prize for the "Slave Ship" offered by the proprietor of the _Casket_.

Charles Alexander, the well-known publisher, solicited William E. Burton to establish a literary journal in Philadelphia, and Burton, who was sympathetic yet dogmatic, possessed of excellent literary taste, but never more positive than when in error, founded in July, 1837, the _Gentleman's Magazine_. The fifth and sixth volumes, 1839, were conducted by Burton and by Poe. The seventh volume, 1840, was conducted by George R. Graham. The poetry of Burton's was painfully bad, redeemed only in the faintest degree by the verses of J. H. Ingraham and C. West Thomson.

Elwood Walter began and Edmund Morris continued the _Ariel_, a fortnightly literary journal, first issued from No. 71 Market Street, May 5, 1827.

The _Philadelphia Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery_ was published by R. H. Small and edited by Dr. N. R. Smith from June, 1827, until February, 1828.

The _Friend_, a weekly periodical begun October 13, 1827, was published in the interest of the Orthodox Quakers.

The _Philadelphia Monthly Magazine_, October, 1827-September, 1829; published by J. Dobson, 108 Chestnut Street. The magazine was projected by Dr. Isaac Clarkson Snowden. It was to give information on the fine arts, sciences and literature, and contained frequent articles on American literature. Snowden was born at Princeton, 31st of December, 1791. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and lived in Bucks County in ill-health. He conceived the plan of the magazine in the spring of 1827. At his death the magazine pa.s.sed into the hands of B. R.

Evans and was enlarged eight pages. A series of good articles began November, 1828, and ran through five numbers, on the History of Literature in Pennsylvania, by R. P. S. (Richard Penn Smith).

The _Ladies' Literary Port Folio_ was begun December 10, 1828. It was published in quarto form by Thomas C. Clarke, No. 67 Arcade.

An a.s.sociation of physicians published every fortnight after September 9, 1829, the _Journal of Health_. Henry H. Porter, at No. 108 Chestnut Street, was the publisher of this sixteen page magazine, whose motto was "Health--the poor man's riches, the rich man's bliss."

The _Banner of the Const.i.tution_ was a weekly journal of New York City, from December, 1829, to May, 1831. In the latter month it was transferred to Philadelphia, because, as the editor explained, "As Pennsylvania is without a single paper bold enough to speak out the language of truth in the strong terms befitting the actual crisis of affairs, we have resolved to transfer our establishment to Philadelphia and to resume our old position on the field of battle."

The _Protestant Episcopalian and Church Register_ was "devoted to the interests of religion in the Protestant Episcopal Church." It was begun in January, 1830, became the property of John S. Littell in 1838, and on January 5, 1839, appeared in a fresh guise as the _Banner of the Cross_.

_G.o.dey's Lady's Book_ was the chief financial success among the Philadelphia magazines, and, after the _Port Folio_, enlisted the services of the greatest number of the best writers. The circulation, largely due to its popular colored fashion plates, increased to 150,000 a month. It was begun in July, 1830, by Louis A. G.o.dey, who continued to direct his continuously prosperous journal until 1877. Some of the earliest compositions of Longfellow, Holmes, Poe, Bayard Taylor, Lydia H. Sigourney, Frances Osgood and Harriet Beecher Stowe appeared in this magazine.

For many years the _Lady's Book_ was edited by Sarah Josepha Hale. She was born in Newport, New Hampshire, 24th October, 1788, and died in Philadelphia 30th April, 1879. From 1828 to 1837 she edited, in Boston, the _Ladies' Magazine_. When that magazine was united in 1837 with _G.o.dey's Lady's Book_, Mrs. Hale became editor of the latter periodical, and made her home in Philadelphia in 1841. She was the originator of the Seamen's Aid Society. She organized the fair whereby the fund for the completion of the Bunker Hill monument was raised. It was through her zealous insistence that Thanksgiving Day was made a national holiday.

She published many books in prose and verse, and some fugitive poems, "Mary's Lamb," "It Snows," and "The Light of Home," that were everywhere known.

Another ladies' magazine was the _Ladies' Garland_, published by John Libby, April 15, 1837-June, 1838.

The _Herald of Truth_, a liberal religious weekly, was published by M. T. C. Gould, No. 6 North Eighth Street, for a short time after January, 1831.

The _Presbyterian_ was begun February 16, 1831.

The _Lutheran Observer_ was also commenced in 1831. It was a continuation of the _Lutheran Intelligencer_, founded in March, 1826, which was the first Lutheran periodical issued in America.

The _Philadelphia Liberalist_, edited by Rev. Zelotes Fuller, was issued weekly after June 9, 1832.

The _Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge_ was edited in Philadelphia in 1832 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. The editor was a celebrated botanist, who was born in Constantinople in 1784, and died in Philadelphia, September 14, 1842. His father had been a Philadelphia merchant. Rafinesque became professor of botany in Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. Eight numbers only of the _Atlantic Journal_ appeared.

The _Cholera Gazette_, July 11, 1832-November 21, 1832, a weekly paper, was published by Carey, Lea and Blanchard. It was edited by George Washington d.i.c.kson, a popular negro minstrel, who published in New York, in 1839, another weekly called the _Polyanthus_.

The _North American Quarterly Magazine_ was begun in Philadelphia, in 1833, by Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, the author of "The Cities of the Plain." Fairfield was born in Warwick, Ma.s.s., June 25, 1803. The sad story of his life of sickness and distress was told by his wife (Jane Frazee) in 1846. She collected the money that made the existence of the magazine possible, and her pertinacity and courage kept the magazine alive for five years. Concerning the origin of the enterprise she writes:

"I returned to my home after having obtained the number of eight signatures, amounting to forty dollars. My husband took little notice of my success for a time. I paid the house rent and secured the comforts of a home. Each day I set apart for my visits five or six hours. In this way I soon laid aside the means sufficient to issue the first number of the _North American Quarterly Magazine_. When I had acc.u.mulated the sum of seven hundred dollars I gave it into the hands of Mr. Fairfield. He seemed amazed at my success. He found a dwelling to rent on Tenth, near Chestnut Street. To this pleasant abode we immediately repaired. In a very short time the work was out, and once more my heart rejoiced"

(Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 97).

Fairfield always contended that Bulwer stole from him the plot of his "Last Days of Pompeii." The story as told by Mrs. Fairfield is as follows: "His great poem, 'The Last Night of Pompeii,' was finished in 1830, and soon after its publication my husband sent copies to England, to Bulwer. He also wrote him a very long letter, but never received either an acknowledgment of the poem or the letter. Bulwer's novel of a similar t.i.tle appeared about two years afterward, and, it is only _justice to the poet_ to say, was in _every_ respect an entire and most flagrant plagiarism. The Argument, the Introduction of the Two Lovers, Converted Christians, Forebodings of the Destruction, The Picture of Pompeii in Ruins, The Forum of Pompeii, The Manners and Morals of Campania Portrayed, Diomede, the Praetor, The Night Storm, Vesuvius Threatening, Dialogue of the Christians--the scenes of the _whole plot_, even the names of characters, _were all taken from this most grand and sublime poem_" (Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 90).

The _North American Quarterly Magazine_ ceased in 1838.

_Waldie's Select Circulating Library_, furnishing the best popular literature, price five dollars for fifty-two numbers, containing matter equal to fifty London duodecimo volumes; printed and published weekly by Adam Waldie, No. 6 North Eighth Street, Philadelphia. It was begun January 15, 1833, and was edited by John Jay Smith (1798-1881). Smith had been the editor of the _Sat.u.r.day Bulletin_, 1830-32, _Littell's Museum_, _Walsh's National Gazette_ and the _Daily Express_. The magazine reprinted standard works and published original reviews and literary notes.

The _American Lancet_, edited by F. S. Beattie, began February 23, 1833, and was published fortnightly by Turner and Son.

The _Spy in Philadelphia and Spirit of the Age_, a weekly journal advocating purity in politics, censured the vices of the time for a few weeks after July 6, 1833.

The _Advocate of Science and Annals of Natural History_ was conducted by W. P. Gibbons, 1834-5.

The _Gentleman's Vade-Mec.u.m, or the Sporting and Dramatic Companion_, January 1, 1835-June 25, 1836, contained original dramas and musical compositions, fast heats and pictures of celebrated racers.

Charles Alexander, its publisher, sold it to Louis A. G.o.dey, Joseph C.

Neal and Morton McMichael, who made out of it the _Sat.u.r.day News and Literary Gazette_, which began its course July 2, 1836, and ultimately became a part of the _Sat.u.r.day Evening Post_. The editor of both publications was Joseph Clay Neal (1807-1847), who also edited the _Pennsylvanian_, a Democratic daily newspaper, from 1831 to 1844, succeeding James Gordon Bennett in the editorial chair. At the time of his death he owned the _Sat.u.r.day Gazette_, which he and Morton McMichael had established. His "Charcoal Sketches" (Philadelphia, 1837), which Charles d.i.c.kens republished in London, were originally contributed to the _Pennsylvanian_ under the t.i.tle, "City Worthies." His wife, Alice Bradley Haven (1828-1863), contributed, while a school-girl, several sketches under the name of Alice G. Lee to the _Sat.u.r.day Gazette_. She was generally known as "Cousin Alice," and under this name a.s.sumed editorial charge of the _Gazette_ after her husband's death.

The _Radical Reformer and Workingman's Advocate_ was published weekly after June 13, 1835, by Thomas Bro., at No. 124 South Front Street. In October it was issued fortnightly.

The _Botanic Sentinel and Literary Gazette_ (August 12, 1835-June 15, 1840), published weekly by J. Coates.

The _Independent Weekly Press_, "upholding the right of free discussion, given to us by our G.o.d and guarded by the laws of our country," was published December 5, 1835. It hoped and intended to be a literary paper, but the quality of its literature is inferior even to that of its infantile contemporaries.

_Every Bodie's Alb.u.m_ was a monthly miscellany of "humorous tales, essays, anecdotes and facetiae," and the other symptoms of alb.u.minous fever. It was begun July 1, 1836. It was a large magazine, containing a number of absurd engravings. Charles Alexander, the publisher of the _Vade-Mec.u.m_, issued this magazine also.

The _Eclectic Journal of Medicine_ (November, 1836-October, 1840) was published monthly by Barrington and Haswell, and edited by John Bell.

_Sat.u.r.day Chronicle_ was published weekly by Matthias and Taylor, Number 84 South Second Street, from 1836 until 1840.

The _Weekly Messenger_ was published from 1836 to 1848.

Adam Waldie built up a lumbering weekly journal, January 6, 1837, which he called _Waldie's Literary Omnibus_. This carry-all was devoted to "news, books entire, sketches, reviews, tales, and miscellaneous intelligence."

The _Philadelphia Visitor and Parlor Companion_, a fortnightly journal, published from March, 1837, by W. B. Rogers, Number 49 Chestnut Street, and edited by H. N. Moore, was filled with toys of fashion and shreds of social folly.

The _American Journal of h.o.m.oeopathy_, a bi-monthly publication, was begun August, 1838, by W. L. J. Kiderlen & Co.

The _United States Magazine and Democratic Review_ was started some time in 1838 and published until 1840.

GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE.

"My name has figured, I a.s.sure you, on the covers of Graham and G.o.dey, making as respectable an appearance, for aught I could see, as any of the canonized bead-roll with which it was a.s.sociated."

So Holgrave tells Miss Phoebe Pyncheon in the "House of Seven Gables,"

and voices Hawthorne's and New England's appreciation of the merit and supremacy of the two Philadelphia magazines which in the middle of this century engaged the services and elicited the abilities of the best American writers.

Mr. George R. Graham, whose name was once known wherever books were read in America, and whose intimate relations with American literature seemed "too intrinse t'unloose," has quite outlived the memories of his countrymen. Few are aware that the generous and able publisher who gave employment to young James Russell Lowell, who awarded the prize for the "Gold-Bug" to Edgar Allan Poe, and who was almost the first to pay American authors for their work, is still living in Orange, New Jersey.

He has outlived health and fortune as well as fame. And now, rich only in memory, and the precious store of reminiscences of nearly four-score years, he lies in the Memorial Hospital at Orange contentedly awaiting the end, neither anxious to go nor eager to remain.