''The London Journal; and Weekly Record of Literature, Science and Art'' (published from 1845 to 1928) was a British penny fiction weekly, one of the best-selling magazines of the nineteenth century. It was established by George Stiff, published by

George Vickers George Vickers (November 19, 1801October 8, 1879), a Democrat, was a United States Senator from Maryland, serving from 1868 to 1873. He cast the deciding vote in the Senate that saved U.S. President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. Vickers also ...

and initially written and edited by

George W. M. Reynolds George William MacArthur Reynolds (23 July 1814 – 19 June 1879) was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British fiction writer and journalist. Reynolds was born in Sandwich, Kent, the son of Captain Sir George Reynolds, a flag offi ...

. After Reynolds left to found his own '' Reynolds's Miscellany'' in 1846, John Wilson Ross became editor. In the mid-1850s the magazine's circulation was over 500,000.

Herbert Ingram Herbert Ingram (27 May 1811 – 8 September 1860) was a British journalist and politician. He is considered the father of pictorial journalism through his founding of ''The Illustrated London News'', the first illustrated magazine. He was a L ...

, in secret partnership with ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

''s owners

Bradbury and Evans Bradbury & Evans (est.1830) was an English printing and publishing business founded by William Bradbury (1799–1869)England, Derbyshire, Church of England Parish Registers, 1538–1910. and Frederick Mullett Evans (1804–1870)General ...

, bought the magazine in 1857, and ''Punch''s editor

Mark Lemon Mark Lemon (30 November 1809, in London – 23 May 1870, in Crawley) was the founding editor of both ''Punch'' and '' The Field''. He was also a writer of plays and verses. Biography Lemon was born in Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, ...

was placed in editorial charge. Lemon's attempt to rebrand the magazine, serializing novels by

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

, was a commercial failure.King, Andrew ''The London Journal 1845 - 1883: Periodicals, Production, and Gender'' p.113
Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004, George Stiff bought back the paper in 1859 (combining it with a title, ''The Guide'', which he had started in the interim) and installed Percy B. St. John and then

Pierce Egan Pierce Egan (1772–1849) was a British journalist, sportswriter, and writer on popular culture. His popular book '' Life in London'', published in 1821, was adapted into the stage play ''Tom and Jerry, or Life in London'' later that year, which ...

as editor. After Stiff's bankruptcy in 1862, W. S. Johnson became proprietor. By 1883 it had transformed itself from being a 'penny family weekly' into what was recognizably a 'woman’s magazine'.

Herbert Allingham Herbert John Allingham (1867–10 January 1936) was an English editor, journalist, serial pulp fiction writer, husband of writer Emmie Allingham and father of crime novelist Margery Allingham. Early life Herbert John Allingham was born in Ke ...

became editor in 1889, publishing his own story "A Devil of a Woman" in 1893.Herbert Allingham biography
on golden-duck.co.uk website, viewed 2013-09-16

Contributors

Contributors to the magazine included leading authors of the day, such as

Mary Elizabeth Braddon Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1835 – 4 February 1915) was an English popular novelist of the Victorian era. She is best known for her 1862 sensation novel ''Lady Audley's Secret'', which has also been dramatised and filmed several times. ...

(''

Lady Audley's Secret ''Lady Audley's Secret'' is a sensation novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon published in 1862. John Sutherland. "Lady Audley's Secret" in ''The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction'', 1989. It was Braddon's most successful and well-known novel. C ...

'' and ''The Outcast''),

E. D. E. N. Southworth Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth (December 26, 1819June 30, 1899) was an American writer of more than 60 novels in the latter part of the 19th century. She was the most popular American novelist of her day.

(''The Gypsy’s Prophecy''), and

(''The Poor Girl''). However, it was "Minnigrey" by the less well-known John Frederick Smith that made this weekly achieve hitherto unprecedented sales of 500,000 a week. Artists George Frederick Sargent, John Proctor and (even more significantly) John Gilbert contributed to engravings in ''The London Journal''.

Notes

References

*Anderson, Patricia, ''The Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture, 1790-1860''. New York: Clarendon Press. 1992. *Andrew King, 'A Paradigm of Reading the Victorian Penny Weekly: Education of the Gaze and ''The London Journal. In Brake et al., eds, ''Nineteenth-Century Media and the Construction of Identities'', 2000, pp. 77-92. Works of George Frederick Sargent (although not those that appeared in ''The London Journal'') can be found at http://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk. {{DEFAULTSORT:London Journal 1845 establishments in the United Kingdom 1928 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1845 Magazines disestablished in 1928 Magazines published in London