Scribner's Magazine
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(July 2023) |
 The first issue ofScribner's Magazinedated January 1887, volume 1, issue 1 | |
| Editor | Harlan Logan(1936–1939) |
|---|---|
| Former editors | Edward Burlingame (1887–1914) Robert Bridges(1914–1930) Alfred Dashiell (1930–1936) |
| Staff writers | Edith Wharton Ernest Hemingway John Galsworthy Richard Harding Davis |
| Categories | Periodical,literature |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Circulation | 215,000 (year unknown) 70,000 (1930) |
| First issue | January 1887 |
| Final issue Number | May 1939 107 |
| Company | Charles Scribner's Sons(1887–1937) Harlan Logan Associates (1938–1939) |
| Country | United States of America |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 2152-792X |
Scribner's Magazinewas an American periodical published by the publishing house ofCharles Scribner's Sonsfrom January 1887 to May 1939.Scribner's Magazinewas the second magazine out of the Scribner's firm, after the publication ofScribner's Monthly.Charles Scribner's Sons spent over $500,000 setting up the magazine, to compete with the already successfulHarper's MonthlyandThe Atlantic Monthly.Scribner's Magazinewas launched in 1887, and was the first of any magazine to introduce color illustrations. The magazine ceased publication in 1939.
The magazine contained many engravings by famous artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as articles by important authors of the time, includingJohn Thomason,Elisabeth Woodbridge Morris,Clarence Cook,and PresidentTheodore Roosevelt.
The magazine had high sales when Roosevelt started contributing, reaching over 200,000, but gradually lost circulation afterWorld War I.
History
[edit]
Scribner's Magazinewas the second periodical publication of the Scribner's firm, afterScribner's Monthlywas published from 1870 to 1881.Scribner's Monthlywas later moved to another publisher, and renamedThe Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine.[1]Charles Scribnerannounced to aNew York Timesreporter that they would make a new monthly publication "as soon as the necessary arrangements could be perfected". It was also announced that the editor would beEdward Burlingame,the son ofAnson Burlingame,who was already connected to the publishing house as literary adviser. Charles Scribner also noted that the magazine would not be a revival of the formerly publishedScribner's Monthly.[2]Charles Scribner's Sonsspent over $500,000 in launchingScribner's Magazineto compete with the already successful pictorials,The Atlantic MonthlyandHarper's Magazine.Burlingame hired the best artists in his country for the magazine;Howard Pyle,Howard Chandler Christy,Charles Marion Russell,Walter Everett,Maxfield ParrishandFrederic Remington.[1][3]Before the first issue was released, Charles Scribner's Sons had their first annual "Scribner's Magazine" dinner at their main offices.[4]Scribner's Magazinewas launched in January 1887, the first issue of which was to be published from January to June of that year. The magazine was printed and bound by Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company.[5]Scribner's Magazinewas also the first magazine to introduce color illustrations later on.[3]The first issue opens with the literary article "The Downfall to the Empire". by E.B. Washburne, the former minister to France.[6]An early morning fire in 1908 at the Charles Scribner's Sons offices heavily burned the third and fourth floors, where the magazine was produced. In May 1914, the magazine's editor, Edward L. Burlingame, retired andRobert Bridgestook over as editor.[4](Bridges was a lifelong close friend of PresidentWoodrow Wilsonever since the two had met as students atPrinceton University.)[7]During theFirst World War,the magazine employed authors,Richard Harding Davis,Edith WhartonandJohn Galsworthy,to write about the major conflict. During the time of 1917, when the United States joined the war, the magazine had four to six articles on the subject.[3]On the date of November 19, 1922, the first editor of the magazine, Edward L. Burlingame, died. In January 1928 the magazine had a change in format, with the first of the newly formatted issue having a cover design byRockwell Kent.[4]
The June 1929 issue was banned inBoston,Massachusetts, due to the articleA Farewell to ArmsbyErnest Hemingway.The article was deemed salacious by the public, and Boston police barred the magazine from book stands. Charles Scribner's Sons issued the statement that:
The very fact that Scribner's Magazine is publishing 'A Farewell to Arms' by Ernest Hemingway is evidence of our belief in its validity and its integrity. Mr. Hemingway is one of the finest and most highly regarded of the modern writers.
The ban on the sale of the magazine in Boston is an evidence of the improper use ofcensorshipwhich bases its objections upon certain passages without taking into account the effect and purpose of the story as a whole. 'A Farewell to Arms' is in its effect distinctly moral. It is the story of a fine and faithful love, born, it is true, out of physical desire.
If good can come from evil, if the fine can grow from the gross, how is a writer effectively to depict the progress of this evolution if he cannot describe the conditions from which the good evolved? If white is to be contrasted with black, thereby emphasizing its whiteness, the picture cannot be all white.
A dispatch from Boston emphasized the fact that the story is not an anti-war argument. Mr. Hemingway set out neither to write a moral tract nor a thesis of any sort. His book is no more anti-war propaganda than are the Kellogg treaties.
The story will continue to run in Scribner's Magazine. Only one-third of it has as yet been published.
— Charles Scribner's Sons, as issued in 1929[8]
In 1930 the magazine's editor, Robert Bridges, retired to become a literary adviser for the firm, and associate editor Alfred S. Deshiell became the "managing editor" ofScribner's Magazine.By January 1932, the magazine had a second change in format, making it much larger. In October 1936,Harlan D. Logantook over as editor from Alfred S. Dashiell, who went on to editReader's Digest.Yet again, in October 1936, the magazine went through a third change of design. In 1938, the magazine was bought from Charles Scribner's Sons and started to be published by Harlan Logan Associates, who still retained an interest.[4]In May 1939, the magazine ceased publication due to low circulation compared toHarper's MonthlyandThe Atlantic Monthly.[3][4]The magazine was then merged with the pictorialCommentator,to becomeScribner's Commentatorin November 1939.[4]Scribner's Commentatoralso ceased publication in 1942 afterone of the magazine's staffpleaded guilty to taking payoffs from the Japanese government, in return for publishing propaganda promoting United States isolationism.[9]
Contributors
[edit]The magazine was distinguished both by its images, which focused on engravings, and later color images by artists such asLeo Hershfield,Howard Christy, Walter Everett,Mary Hallock Foote,Maxfield Parrish,Ernest Peixotto,Howard Pyle,Frederic Remington,and Charles Marion Russell. The magazine was also noted for its articles, including work byJacob Riissuch asHow the Other Half Lives,andThe Poor in Great Cities,as well asTheodore Roosevelt'sAfrican Game Trails,John Thomason,Elisabeth Woodbridge Morris andClarence Cook.[3]
Reception
[edit]Scribner's Magazinesold well until its conclusion in 1939. The circulation of the magazine went up when Theodore Roosevelt started authoring a section of the magazine. Around the time, circulation numbers went up to 215,000. The magazine had strong sales until the end of the First World War, then sales went down to 70,000 and then 43,000 by 1930, which eventually brought the magazine to a closure.[4][9]Review of Reviewseditor,William T. Stead,criticized the magazine for relying too much on its illustrations.[3]
Notes
[edit]- ^ab"Scribner's Magazine"(XQ).The Modernist Journals Project.RetrievedAugust 26,2009.
- ^"A New Scribner's Magazine"(PDF).The New York Times.New York.The New York Times.July 10, 1886. p. 5.ISSN0362-4331.OCLC1645522.RetrievedAugust 28,2009.
- ^abcdefSimkin, John.} "Scribner's".Spartacus Educational.RetrievedAugust 26,2009.
{{cite web}}:Check|url=value (help) - ^abcdefg"Charles Scribner's Sons: An Illustrated Chronology".65 Olden Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 United States of America:Princeton UniversityLibrary. November 8, 2002.RetrievedAugust 28,2009.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: location (link) - ^"Scribner's Magazine".Scribner's Magazine.1(1).New York,United States of America:Charles Scribner's Sons:Cover-1. January–June 1887.OCLC1590821.RetrievedAugust 26,2009.
- ^Washburne, E.B.Scribner's Magazine:3.
{{cite journal}}:Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^Berg, A. Scott (2013).Wilson.New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 68.ISBN978-0-399-15921-3.
- ^"Boston Police Bar Scribner's Magazine".The New York Times.New York.The New York Times.June 21, 1929.ISSN0362-4331.OCLC1645522.RetrievedAugust 27,2009.
- ^ab"Scribner's".St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture.BookRags. 2005–2006.RetrievedAugust 28,2009.
External links
[edit]
- Works by or aboutScribner's MagazineatInternet ArchiveandGoogle Books
- Scribner's Magazineat HathiTrust Digital Library, vols. 1–19 (1887–1896)
- Scribner's Magazineat theModernist Journals Project:a cover-to-cover, searchable digital edition of volumes 47–72 (Jan. 1910 – Dec. 1922) that includes original wrappers and advertising pages. PDFs of these 156 issues may be downloaded for free from the MJP website.