The creation of the humble magazine..

The creation of thy humble magazine..


A long time ago.. 1892 in America to be precise..., a wonderful fashion magazine named Vogue was published by Arthur Baldwin Turnure. Conde Nast purchased the entire publication in 1909 and the magazine continued to grow in publicity as it arrived on British soil from about 1916. As 1973 came round Vogue was published only once a month (it was started as a weekly magazine) and now Vogue is now published in more than 17 countries.

-Pictured Left: Original "The Cosmopolitan" from March 1894
-Picture Right : Vogue Original July 1953

Cosmopolitan can be compared to Vogue as it still circulates and was published even earlier! It's first date of publication is in 1886 in the United States where it was originally a family magazine. My how things have changed! Cosmopolitan magazine is now for women and features much fashion, make up and much gossip! (The magazine turned to a women’s magazine around 1960) Like Vogue, Cosmopolitan magazine has surged the market and now resides in 34 different languages in 58 international editions in 100 countries!!

Whilst the following magazines are now not in publication, they were in fact the first fashion magazines produced…

In 1770 “The Lady’s magazine” began printing with fashion plates in it. This can be called one of the first fashion magazines as these fashion plates portrayed women and men in fashionable clothes for the future and current seasons. Other magazines to contain fashion plates at the time were “Cabinet des Modes” and “Journal de la Mode”. “La Belle Assemblee” (began in 1806) had a long run of 63 years to beat off its competitors like “Le Beau Monde”.

The Longest running English magazine was called “The Queen, the Ladies’ Newspaper” and began in 1890. The name was shortened to Queens and lasted until Harpers bought it over in 1968 and named it Harpers & Queen. The name changed again to “Harpers bazaar” in March 2006 as the 'Queen' part of the magazines name was dropped to help its international status.

But, if we're not focussing on FASHION magazines, read this...
According to Wikipedia: "The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, in London, is considered to have been the first general-interest magazine. Edward Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine", on the analogy of a military storehouse of varied materiel, originally derived from the Arabic makazin "storehouses". The oldest consumer magazine still in print is The Scots Magazine, which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totaling over 90 years weaken that claim. Lloyd's List was founded in Edward Lloyd’s England coffee shop in 1734; it is still published as a daily business newspaper."