What is Gentleman's Magazine?

Local and family history A-Z > Gentleman's Magazine

 
  • Gentleman's Magazine is a magazine that was founded  in 1731. At first it aimed to reproduce news, essays and articles from other journals and news-sheets. Gradually it began to include its own material, including literary criticism, essays and parliamentary reports
  • The early editions are interesting for family historians because they contain details of many births, marriages and deaths and often other biographical details and news items about individuals
  • There is also a great deal of information of interest to local historians, such as articles, prints illustrating contemporary buildings, a register of current publications and much more
  • One of the regular contributors to the magazine was Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), writer of the famous work 'A dictionary of the English language', published in 1755. He submitted essays, poems, biographies and reviews. He was a friend of the magazine's founder, Edward Cave, and helped him to run it
  • Edward Cave is credited as being the first person to use the term 'magazine' for this genre of publication
  • The Gentleman's Magazine was published monthly until it ceased publication in 1914
  • Return to Gentleman's Magazine for more information
Rows of old journals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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