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Paintings
Church
Heart
of the Andes
Cole
Expulsion
from the Garden of Eden
Course of Empire
Savage
State
The
Arcadian or Pastoral State
Consummation
Desolation
Destruction
Voyage
of Life
Childhood
Manhood
Old
Age
Youth
The
Hudson River School
Art
and Mechanical Reproduction
Daguerreotype
Daguerreian
Society
Currier
and Ives
Images
of Whitman (w/essay)
Oliver
Wendell Holmes on Photography
Edgar Allan Poe on The
Daguerreotype
Emily
Dickinson & Photography
Attractions
Lost
Museum (Barnum's Museum)
Grand
Moving Panorama of Pilgrim's Progress
Illustrating the Text
E.W.
Kemble's Huck illustrations
Kemble's
"Illustrating Huck Finn"
Henry James on Illustration
Images from Godey's Lady's Book
"Frontispiece"
(1857)
"Learning
to Write" (1857)
"The
Very Fine Lady" and "The Lady" (1857)
"The
Science of Dress" (1858)
"The
Science of Dress"
Color
Plate #1
Color
Plate #2
Texts
Emerson
- Art
Contact me at:
mdesiderio@gc.cuny.edu
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Introduction to Godey's by Hope
Greenberg - University of Vermont
About Godey's Lady's Book:
Publication History
"Do you write for the magazines?" inquired Phoebe.
"Is it possible you did not know it?" cried Holgrave. "Well, such
is
literary fame! Yes, Miss Phoebe Pyncheon, among the multitude of my
marvellous gifts, I have that of writing stories; and my name has figured, I
can assure you, on the covers of Graham and Godey..."
House of the Seven Gables - Hawthorne
While it was not the first American magazine to focus on women's interests,
Godey's certainly seems to be the one most often mentioned in that respect.
Together with its rivals Graham's Magazine, Peterson's and a host of other
lesser-known efforts, the Lady's Magazine begun by Louis A. Godey in 1830,
enjoyed unequalled popularity. Its circulation figures are perhaps enough to
account for its appearance in so many later accounts, many of them
derogatory, of the literary magazines of the period.
Fred Lewis Pattee has Louis A. Godey all but exclaim "Eureka!" with
the idea
that an annual gift book published more frequently might actually make
money. However, American magazines directed to women, as shown by both Frank
Luther Mott and Patricia Okker, were not a new idea in 1830. Indeed, these
American offerings were themselves fruit of a field already sown, like much
nineteenth century American literature, by their English forbears. A quick
perusal of the names of English magazines in the decades preceeding the
advent of Godey's shows that American magazine publishers were even indebted
to the English for the names of their magazines: the Lady's Magazine, New
Lady's Magazine, and various Repositories and Monthly Museums all figure
largely. (Adburgham, 128)
Nor was Godey's format or content in any way exceptional. For example, the
ever popular La Belle Assemblée contained hand-colored fashion plates and a
piece of sheet music. The London Lady's Magazine contained stories, poetry,
historical pieces, book notices, and such "embellishments" as plates,
costume designs and patterns. Godey patterned his first magazine, then, on
these and the annual gift books. Indeed much of the content was lifted
directly from these competitors, a common practise of the time. The result
was a magazine that survived its first few years quite well.
By 1836 Godey could claim, and probably with fair accuracy, that his
magazine "has a much larger circulation than any other monthly in the
country." That same year he also began a policy that distinguished his
magazine both from its former self and from many others, though it caused
much consternation. In an editorial he stated that "The publisher of this
work, with a view of securing original contributions for its columns, will
give for such articles as he may approve and publish the highest rates of
remuneration offered by any periodical in this country."
This desire to obtain original works, more specifically original works by
American authors, makes his aquisition of the American Ladies' Magazine and
Literary Gazette unsurprising. Sarah Josepha Hale had been publishing this
literary magazine since 1828. She had built its reputation on assembling
local and national materials and above all on insisting on original work.
Her editorial policy was always, clearly, to provide quality material to
benefit and educate the female reader. Her marketing sense, no less astute
than Godey's, was to originally address herself to the fathers, brothers,
and husbands of those readers by encouraging them to buy a subscription and
ensuring them that their daughters, sisters, and wives would be not only
grateful but also better able to please as a result.
Following negotiations the Ladies' Magazine was acquired by the Lady's Book
and, after a brief period editing the magazine from Boston to accommodate
family responsibilities, Hale relocated to Philadelphia to act as its new
editor. Godey did not relinquish total control and the magazine reflects
both their interests. In January, 1840, the list of contributors was
entirely female. Overuling Hale's reservations, the fashion plates continued
to be included (providing work for 150 female hand tinters) as were steel
and copper engravings illustrating the text. Fiction, nonfiction, advice
articles, and poetry formed the bulk of the magazine, with instructions for
everything from slippers to entire house floor plans rounded out the
contents.
The decision to showcase American talent proved popular, but a decision to
copyright selected articles sent competitors howling in complaint.
Understandably, weekly papers that survived by clipping from the larger
monthlies, were not at all pleased. Poe came to Godey's defense, thus also
defending author's rights, and eventually the rest of the magazine industry
followed suit. These decisions did no harm to the magazine's circulation
rate; by 1851 circulation reached 63,000, estimated to be twice that of any
rival magazine (Finlay, 47) while at the eve of the Civil War that number
was estimated to be over 150,000.
It was the editorial policy of the Lady's Book to virtually ignore the War,
describing the magazine as an "oasis" from the struggle. This policy,
though
decried by many in later years apparently did the periodical no immediate
harm and it continued to flourish throughout the decade. Godey sold the
magazine and Hale retired as editor in 1877. It passed through several hands
and faded into obscurity, ultimately ending in 1898.
Further Reading:
Adburgham, Allison, Women in
Print: Writing Women and Women's Magazines from
the Restoration to the Accession of Victoria. (London: Allen and Unwin,
1972.)
Mott, Frank Luther, A History of American Magazines. (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1938-68).
Finley, Ruth, The Lady of Godey's, Sarah Josepha Hale. (Philadelphia: J.
B.
Lippincott Company, 1931).
Okker, Patricia, Our Sister Editors: Sarah J. Hale and the Tradition of
Nineteenth-century American Women Editors. (Athens, Ga: University of
Georgia press, c1995).
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