''The London Mercury'' was the name of several periodicals published in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The earliest was a newspaper that appeared during the

Exclusion Bill The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Sco ...

crisis; it lasted only 56 issues (1682). (Earlier periodicals had employed similar names: ''

Mercurius Politicus ''Mercurius Politicus'' was a newsbook that was published weekly from June 1650 until the English Restoration in May 1660. Under the editorship of Marchamont Nedham, it supported the republican governments. From 1655 until 1659 it had a monopoly o ...

,'' 1659; ''The Impartial Protestant Mercury,'' 1681.) Successor periodicals published as ''The London Mercury'' during the 18th and 19th centuries.

20th century

In the 20th century, ''The London Mercury'' was the major monthly literary journal that published from

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

J. C. Squire Sir John Collings Squire (2 April 1884 – 20 December 1958) was a British writer, most notable as editor of the ''London Mercury'', a major literary magazine in the interwar period. He antagonised several eminent authors, but attracted a coterie ...

served as editor from November 1919 to September

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

;Joy Grant, ''Harold Monro and the Poetry Bookshop''. University of California Press, 1967 (pp. 132-133).

Rolfe Arnold Scott-James Rolfe Arnold Scott-James (birth registered as Rolfe Arnold S James, 21 December 1878 – 3 November 1959) was a British journalist, editor and literary critic. He is often cited as one of the first people to use the word "modernism" in his 1908 ...

succeeded Squire as editor from October 1934 to April 1939. ''The Mercury'' purchased the smaller title, ''The Bookman'' for £800 in 1935. By late 1938 the magazine was losing money heavily on a revenue of £4000 and efforts were being made to sell it, with approaches being made to the publishers Methuen, Rolls Publishing Company and Brendin Publishing Company, owners of the rival and more successful title ''Life and Letters To-day''. Eventually a deal was agreed in March 1939 with Brendin, for £1000 clear, with the ''London Mercury'' and ''The Bookman'' being incorporated to ''Life and Letters To-day''.

Authors published

J. C. Squire published a wide variety of serious contemporary literature, including poetry by

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

Richmond Lattimore Richmond Alexander Lattimore (May 6, 1906 – February 26, 1984) was an American poet and classicist known for his translations of the Greek classics, especially his versions of the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''. Early life and career Born to David ...

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short st ...

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

, and

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, among many others. ''The London Mercury'' also carried short fiction by several well-known authors, including

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

, Margaret Irwin,

Gerald Bullett Gerald William Bullett (30 December 1893 – 3 January 1958) was a British man of letters. He was known as a novelist, essayist, short story writer, critic and poet. He wrote both supernatural fiction and some children's literature. A few of his ...

Henry Williamson Henry William Williamson (1 December 1895 – 13 August 1977) was an English writer who wrote novels concerned with wildlife, English social history and ruralism. He was awarded the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 for his book ''Tarka ...

and

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel ''War with the Newts'' (1936) and play ''R.U.R.'' (''Rossum's Universal Ro ...

, and published literary criticism by

W. J. Turner Walter James Redfern Turner (13 October 1884 – 18 November 1946) was an Australian-born, English-domiciled writer and critic.McKenna, C. W. F., (1990). nlineTurner, Walter James Redfern (1884–1946), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' ...

, John Freeman and

Edward Shanks Edward Richard Buxton Shanks (11 June 1892 – 4 May 1953) was an English writer, known as a war poet of World War I, then as an academic and journalist, and literary critic and biographer. He also wrote some science fiction. E. F. Bleiler and Rich ...

. ''The London Mercury'' took a conservative political position. In 2002 the ''London Mercury'' title was adopted by an online newspaper.

References

London newspapers {{England-newspaper-stub