‘A miscellany for men and women’
A wonderful assortment of magazines was recently donated. These are, for the most part, ‘miscellanies’, that is, general interest magazines for all the family, and going back to as early as 1937. I say ‘all the family’, but a closer glance might suggest otherwise…
Let me explain. We had about sixty issues of Lilliput, extending from the very first in 1937 to 1956. This started out as a sixpenny monthly, with artwork on every cover until about 1949 showing a man, woman and dog by ‘Trier’ (Walter Trier, 1890–1951). On the first covers it is billed as ‘The pocket magazine for everyone’. It has general interest stories, cartoons, and has a light and breezy mood to it – the sort of thing you’d buy to read on your weekend at the seaside, I imagine. But there are also full-page photographs (mostly black and white), of cats, artwork, seaside scenes, interesting elderly people – and female nudes. All very tasteful, of course, but for all the family?? Lilliput increased in size in 1954 (and price, now 2s) and by the end of our run, in 1956, it had clearly changed stance, because on the cover it now says ‘Lilliput is a man’s magazine’, and the saucy covers suggest an altogether different read. If I tell you that Lilliput was absorbed by Men Only shortly afterwards, you’ll get the idea.
The same fate befell another run amongst the same donation. We have nine copies of London Opinion (and the Humorist), here from 1941 to 1952. Another monthly, this one 9d, this had been published since 1903 and is of the same size and chasing the same audience. This too featured random female nudity. London Opinion was absorbed by Men Only in 1954. Both Lilliput and London Opinion have wonderful adverts, full-page mostly, for everything from Bovril to KLG spark plugs. The same cannot be said for the one copy of Razzle we have been given – at 1s 6d, it’s undated but I’d say 1940s. As ‘Britain’s leading monthly magazine of humour’, it is free of adverts and altogether rather more top-shelf. I gather this title lasted until the 1950s although a magazine of the same title appeared from the 1980s.
To finish this theme, we have one copy of Christmas Convoy from 1946. At 1s this was a collection of stories and general interest articles, and an article ‘The body of woman’ with accompanying illustrations, and which probably needs no further explanation. This magazine is a curiosity – I can’t establish whether it was a one-off, or a Christmas special of a monthly called Convoy.
The Pie magazines were also billed as ‘a miscellany for men and women’. We have three: Autumn Pie from 1945, and Spring and Summer Pie from 1946. These quarterlies (1s 6d going up to 2s) apparently sent all profits to Toc H.
We have ten copies of London Mercury (from 1924 to 1937). This monthly became the London Mercury and the Bookman from 1935, and although the first was 3s, the later one was 2s 6d. There are twelve copies of Studio from 1946 and 1950. This lovely monthly arts magazine on high quality art paper was fittingly expensive at 2s 6d. Not as expensive though as Courier, ‘Britain’s finest magazine’, another monthly costing 3s. We have six copies for 1954 and 1955, and its blend of fiction and satire is printed on exquisite paper, almost a linen.
Then there’s Eve’s Journal, a woman’s magazine for which we have a single copy from June 1938. At 1s, it was a monthly, with fiction, features and fashion. There are two copies of Comoedia Illustré from 1913, a French weekly concentrating on the theatre and performing arts scene. Costing a franc, and on art paper, it is filled with theatre news, reviews and plenty of photographs of then current actresses.
The donation includes 34 copies of the annual Giles compendiums. Our first is from 1946, and is therefore possibly the first one, and then scattered copies up to 2003. Giles was Ronald Giles (1916–1995), an artist who spent much of his working life producing cartoons for the Daily Express. No advertising in here, but very much adding colour and context to our collection.
Last but certainly not least is the selection of English and Welsh town guides and tourist brochures from the early 1950s to the early 1960s. These were mostly free, as they are full of advertising for hotels etc, but one or two of them cost 1s. With some colour photography, they show the following towns in their best light: Lynton and Lynmouth, Watford, Llandudno, Penzance, Wareham and Purbeck, Ilfracombe, Sheringham (‘for sunshine and easy motoring’), Solihull, Dover, Southend on Sea, Folkestone, Ripley and Eastbourne.
We are delighted to be able to add these to our archive.
