''Salmagundi; or The Whim-whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. & Others'', commonly referred to as ''Salmagundi'', was a 19th-century

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also example ...

created and written by American writer

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

, his oldest brother

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, and

James Kirke Paulding James Kirke Paulding (August 22, 1778 – April 6, 1860) was an American writer and, for a time, the United States Secretary of the Navy. Paulding's early writings were satirical and violently anti-British, as shown in ''The Diverting History of ...

. The collaborators produced twenty issues at irregular intervals between January 24, 1807 and January 15, 1808.

History

Irving and a few friends formed a group known as the "Lads of Kilkenny", described as “a loosely knit pack of literary-minded young blades out for a good time.”Nigro, Carmen. "So, Why Do We Call It Gotham, Anyway?", New York Public Library, January 25, 2011
/ref> When they weren't spending time at the Park Theatre or the Shakespeare Tavern at the corner of Nassau and Fulton Streets, they gathered at an old family mansion on the Passaic River which

Gouverneur Kemble Gouverneur Kemble (January 25, 1786 – September 18, 1875) was a two-term United States Congressman, diplomat and industrialist. He helped found the West Point Foundry, a major producer of artillery during the American Civil War. Early life and ...

had inherited and which they called "Cockloft Hall". Besides Irving, the group included his brothers William, Peter, and Ebenezer; and the Kemble brothers, Gouverneur and Peter. William Irving was married to Julia Paulding, sister of his friend James Kirke Paulding. Paulding was married to the Kemble's sister Gertrude. Some of them eventually organized to create the literary magazine called ''Salmagundi''. ''Salmagundi'' lampooned

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

culture and politics in a manner much like today's '' Mad'' magazine. It was in the November 11, 1807, issue that Irving first attached the name "Gotham" to

, based on the alleged stupidity of the people of

Gotham, Nottinghamshire Gotham ( ) is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of about 1,600, measured at 1,563 in the 2011 census. It is in the borough of Rushcliffe, and has a parish council. The name Gotham comes from the Old English for "goat h ...

.Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace. ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'' (Oxford University Press, 1999), 417. Irving and his collaborators published the periodical using a wide variety of

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

s, including Will Wizard, Launcelot Langstaff, Pindar Cockloft, and Mustapha Rub-a-Dub Keli Khan. Irving and Paulding discontinued ''Salmagundi'' in January 1808, following a disagreement with publisher David Longworth over profits.

Notes

References

* Irving, Washington. "Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent./Salmagundi." ''The Complete Works of Washington Irving'', Volume 6. Edited by Bruce Granger & Martha Hartzog. (Twayne, 1977) * Jones, Brian Jay. ''Washington Irving: An American Original''. (Arcade, 2008)

History

Notes

References

Further reading