Periodicals

I

Introduction

Periodicals, publications released on a regular basis that may include news, feature articles, poems, fictional stories, or other types of writing. Many periodicals also include photographs and drawings. Periodicals that are aimed at a general audience, such as weekly news roundups or monthly special-interest publications, are also called magazines. Those with a more narrow audience, such as publications of scholarly organizations, can be termed journals. While newspapers are periodicals, the term generally has come to refer to publications other than dailies.

Historically, most periodicals have differed from newspapers in their format, publication schedule, and content. Most newspapers deal with the news of the day and are issued on pulp paper with relatively large, unbound pages. By contrast, other types of periodicals focus on more specialized material, and when they deal with news they tend to do so in the form of summaries or commentaries. For centuries these periodicals generally have been printed on finer paper than newspapers, with smaller bound pages, and issued at intervals longer than a day (weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly, or even annually).

In the 1990s, with the growth of the Internet, publishers began to release newspapers and other periodicals online. This development blurred the line between the two forms because the general format and design of online newspapers and periodicals are similar, and the publication schedules of both forms became more flexible. For example, many newspaper publishers update their online versions throughout the day, and some online periodicals do the same. Despite these technological changes, the two forms’ differing emphasis in choice of content remains a distinguishing factor.

II

Development of Periodicals

The earliest periodicals include the German Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (Edifying Monthly Discussions, 1663-1668), the French Journal des Sçavans (1665; subsequently titled Journal des Savants), and the English Philosophical Transactions (1665) of the Royal Society of London. These were essentially collections of summaries (later essays) on developments in art, literature, philosophy, and science. Perhaps the most famous of the essay periodicals of the 18th century were the British publications The Tatler (1709-1711) and The Spectator (1711-1712, 1714), the creations of renowned essayists Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison; and The Rambler (1750-1752) and The Idler (1758-1760), founded by writer Samuel Johnson.

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Periodicals in France and Germany in the late 18th century provided general information. As they developed, they concentrated on literature and the sciences. These included the long-lived German Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (General Literary News, 1785-1849), which was devoted to commentary on new literary ideas.

The first periodical of the modern general type, devoted to a miscellany of reading entertainment, was the English publication The Gentleman's Magazine (1731-1907)—the first instance of the use of the word magazine to denote a forum for entertaining reading. It contained reports of political debates, essays, stories, and poems and was widely influential. It served as the model for the first true American periodicals, General Magazine and Historical Chronicle and American Magazine. Both of these periodicals first appeared in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January 1741 as rival publications; neither lasted more than a few months, however. The former was founded by the American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin and the latter by the American printer Andrew Bradford.

III

19th-Century Periodicals

Monthly or quarterly reviews, usually partisan in politics, and with articles contributed by eminent authors and politicians, were introduced in Britain early in the 19th century. Of these, two became outstanding. The Edinburgh Review (1802-1929), founded in support of the Whig Party, was one of the most influential critical journals of its day and numbered among its contributors the English writers Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, and William Hazlitt. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1817-1981), a Tory publication, was early in its career noted for its serialization of Scottish fiction and its satirical commentaries on Scottish affairs.

One of the most important serious periodicals in the United States in the 19th century was the North American Review (1815-1940; revived in 1964). Editors during its long and illustrious career included such literary figures as James Russell Lowell, Charles Eliot Norton, and Henry Adams; contributors included Henry James, H. G. Wells, and Mark Twain. Among the European equivalents of such periodicals were the French Revue des Deux Mondes (Review of Two Worlds, 1829) and the German Literarisches Wochenblatt (Literary Weekly, 1820-1898).

Popular weeklies and monthlies, some illustrated and selling for only a few pennies each, made their appearance in Britain in the second quarter of the 19th century; they included The Mirror (1822-1849), a twopenny illustrated magazine, and the Cornhill Magazine (1860-1939). The Cornhill, first edited by English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, was the first sixpenny monthly to publish fiction regularly in serial form; these serials included novels by the editor and contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell and Anthony Trollope.

Only 16 periodicals were published in the Americas before the American Revolution (1775-1783). But about 100 periodicals, most of them short-lived, were issued in the last quarter of the 18th century. By the mid-19th century, 600 periodicals of various types were being printed in the United States. Many of these, patterning themselves after English monthlies and quarterlies, were intended for general audiences and featured essays on the arts, history, and politics.

The number of journals for special audiences also increased, including—as in England—monthlies and weeklies for women. Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1898), for example, with its hand-colored fashion illustrations (now prized by collectors), was vastly influential in setting the style in clothing, manners, and taste. Youth's Companion (1827-1929) and later St. Nicholas (1873-1940) were among several children's magazines published. Religious journals appealing to the antislavery and temperance movements were numerous.

Another group was composed of the serious monthly and quarterly literary reviews, such as Graham's Magazine (1826-1858) and The Southern Literary Messenger (1834-1864), both of which writer and critic Edgar Allan Poe was connected with; and The Dial (1840-1844), the journal of the New England transcendentalists, edited first by author Margaret Fuller and subsequently by poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Family magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post (1821-1969; revived as a quarterly in 1971) became vastly popular with the general public.

The first modern illustrated magazines appeared during the middle and latter part of the 19th century. The more successful included the weekly Illustrated London News (1842), which was important for its coverage, over more than a century, of significant events. L'Illustration in France (1843-1944), Die Woche (The Week, 1899-1940) in Germany, and Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (1855-1922) and Harper's Weekly (1857-1916) in the United States followed suit. The last two were especially notable for their pictures of the American Civil War (1861-1865), drawn by staff artists. The painter Winslow Homer, for example, contributed to Harper's Weekly from 1858 to 1876, and Thomas Nast, best known for his political caricatures, worked both for Harper's and for the Illustrated London News. By the end of the 19th century, however, photography and the development of halftone illustration had replaced artists' renderings.

Other important British periodicals of the second half of the 19th century include the Fortnightly Review (1865-1954; issued monthly after 1866) and the weekly humor magazine Punch (1841), one of the most famous of its kind. Its brand of witty comment—in cartoons and articles—on British life had counterparts in later publications in other nations. The genre includes the German Simplicissimus (1896-1944; 1956-1967), although its thrust was more decidedly satirical; the artists who contributed to it include the German American painter and illustrator George Grosz. In the 20th century The New Yorker (1925) successfully adopted this formula with a unique mix of cartoons, objective reporting, and short fiction by trend-setting writers.

Improvements in illustration and printing techniques during the 19th century resulted in lower production costs and introduced a new era of mass circulation, especially in the United States. Federal laws were passed providing inexpensive mailing rates. Increasingly, also, magazine publishers relied on revenue from the advertising their publications carried. The number, variety, and readership of attractively designed periodicals grew enormously. Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1850; later Harper's Magazine) led the revolution, with serialized fiction by popular English authors and many woodcut illustrations. Rival illustrated monthlies soon followed—among them, Scribner's Monthly (begun in 1870), afterward issued as the Century (1881-1930), and Scribner's Magazine (1887-1939). Of the unillustrated periodicals, the leading examples—both still being published—were the literary magazine The Atlantic (formerly The Atlantic Monthly, 1857), edited by eminent writers and critics, including William Dean Howells; and the political magazine The Nation (1865).

At the same time, a number of illustrated periodicals that were inexpensively produced and priced and of great popular appeal throughout the United States were founded. They included Cosmopolitan (1886), McClure's Magazine (1893-1933), and Munsey's Magazine (1889-1929). McClure's and Munsey's, along with Collier's (1883-1957), were among the most influential of the so-called muckraking periodicals, so named for their manner of exposing government and business corruption in the decade between 1902 and 1912. In Canada, illustrated periodicals included Canadian Illustrated News (1869-1883), Saturday Night (1887), and Maclean’s (1905), which eventually became one of the country’s most important magazines.

Women's magazines gained strength in the late 1800s. Readers could choose among Ladies' (later Woman's) Home Companion (1873-1957), McCall's Magazine (1876), Ladies' Home Journal (1883), Good Housekeeping (1885), and Vogue (1892).

IV

20th-Century Periodicals

The early 20th century saw the introduction of several magazines that represented more sophisticated literary tastes and that protested the remnants of Victorian morality. These included Smart Set (1900-1930); Vanity Fair (1913-1936; revived in 1983); and the American Mercury (1924-1951), which was edited by critics H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. Another trend, the publishing of magazines composed of a variety of reading material digested from other sources, is exemplified by the Reader's Digest (1922). Since the late 1930s, Reader's Digest has had a monthly circulation in the millions. Numerous foreign-language editions, as well as a Braille edition, are also published.

Two other significant developments, dating from the 1920s and 1930s, were the establishment of weekly news reviews—first Time (1923) and later Newsweek (1933) and others—and of weekly and biweekly magazines, illustrated with photographs, such as Life (1936-1972; revived as a monthly from 1978 to 2000); Look (1937-1971); and Ebony (1946), which focuses on African American concerns.

Meanwhile, through much of the first half of the 20th century, the so-called little magazine contributed substantially to the growth of literature. Typically small in format and featuring experimental writing of limited audience appeal, little magazines such as Poetry (1912), Dial (1880-1929), and the Kenyon Review (1939-1970, revived in 1979) introduced many important new authors to their readers. Subsequently, many universities began to sponsor quarterly literary magazines. Larger audiences were reached with the establishment of more general, although serious, literary and opinion magazines, notably the Saturday Review of Literature (1924; reorganized 1973-1982 as Saturday Review/World); The New Yorker (1925); the liberal Catholic Commonweal (1924); the Jewish-focused Commentary (1945); Partisan Review (1934) and The Reporter (1949-1968), both liberal in outlook; and the conservative National Review (1955).

By the 20th century magazine publishing was firmly established worldwide. During the enormous expansion of the U.S. consumer economy following World War II (1939-1945), hundreds of magazines targeted to relatively narrow audiences began to appear. Magazines were designed for readers in particular industries or occupations, or for fans of sports and leisure activities, and further divided by economic class. The greatest surge was seen during the 1960s, when the number of American consumer magazines nearly doubled—from 545 to about 1,000—while the average circulation fell by more than 30 percent, from 450,000 to about 300,000. This trend undercut the mass appeal of general periodicals such as Reader’s Digest and Life, while costs rose and television drained away major advertisers.

The expanding class of specialized magazines aligned with existing publications such as company newsletters, journals of various professional societies, and magazines that gave semitechnical information—such as The American Journal of Science (1818), the oldest continuously published scientific magazine in the United States; Scientific American (1845); and Popular Mechanics (1902). Other publications with a relatively narrow focus but considerable popularity have included National Geographic Magazine (1888), Art in America (1913), American Heritage (1954), and Sports Illustrated (1954), all of which are known for their striking graphics and photographs.

Other popular special-interest magazines of the 20th century included Consumer Reports (1936), offering objective comparative evaluations of consumer products; TV Guide (1953), which provides weekly program listings; GQ (1957), focusing on men's fashion and lifestyle; and Rolling Stone (1967), devoted to popular music and its personalities. Ms. magazine (1971) is written and edited from a feminist perspective. Cricket (1974) became popular as a literary magazine for children. People (1974) capitalized on a growing interest in the private lives of celebrities and gave rise to a host of similar publications. National Geographic World (1975), a children's magazine, addresses science, history, outdoor adventure, and other topics. Discover (1980) was the first mass-circulation magazine focusing solely on science. Sports Illustrated for Kids (1989) is an attempt to tailor a popular magazine to a younger audience. Entertainment Weekly (1990) covers the latest news and reviews in music, film, and other mass culture. Wired (1993) concentrates on technology and Internet culture.

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