| Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, The; an illustrated journal, combining practical information, instruction & amusement. |
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| vol 1, 1852 - vol 7 no 12, 1859; vol 1 no 1 [2s], May 1860 - vol 9 [2s], 1864; vol 1 [3s], Jan 1865 - vol 16 no 114 [3s], 1874; 1877; 1880 - 1890. London, Middlesex. Ed: Isabella Beeton (1852 - 1865d.); Samuel Beeton; Courcy; Mill. Prop: Isabella Beeton (1852 - 1865d.); Samuel Beeton. Pub: Samuel O. Beeton (1859); Ward, Lock and Tyler (1874). Printer: James Wade (1859). Contributors: Isabella Beeton (1852 - 1865d.); Samuel Beeton; Elizabeth Oliver Besley; Matilda Browne (pseudos "Myra", "The Silkworm"); Adelaide Claxton (ill.); John Constable (ill. ); Jules David (ill.); M.J.T. De German (Saint); Richard Garnett; Friedrich Gerstacker; Clementa Grant; T. Hood (1863); Llewellyn Jewitt; Florence Fenwick Miller (1873); (Miss) Nightingale; Elisabeth Phelps; Edgar Allan Poe; (Mme) Roche; Sarah Symonds; William Turner (ill.). Size: 18cm, 32pp ([1s] 1859); 22cm, 48pp ([2s] 1860); 28cm (May 1860+); 25cm, 32pp (1865); 50pp (1874). Price: 2d (1852-1859); 6d (May 1860+); 1s (1874). Circulation: 5,000 (1852); 25,000/m (1854); 37,000 (1856); 50,00 (self-proclaimed 1856); 50,000 (1857-1859); 60,000/no (1860-1862). Frequency: monthly. Illustration: engravings, dress patterns, diagrams (1859); coloured plates (engravings) (1860); sketches (1864). Indexing: index/vol (1859-1874); T of C/no (1874 only). Departments: serial fiction, articles, essays, biographical sketches, what we think of it, fashions and the work table, domestic recipes and things worth knowing, poetry (1859); the poetry of the month, the book of the month, the Englishwoman's Conversazione, amongst the Americans, bills of fare for dinner, biography, books of the season, domestic history of England, essays of the month, fashions of the month, the flower and kitchen garden, poetry, orchard and fruit trees, recipes, serial fiction (1860); familiar lines (1865); Cupid's letter bag, needlework patterns, essay competitions, taxonomy, botany, natural history, ornithology, medicine, science. Orientation: republican; pro-woman's suffrage. Sources: Bloomfield, Andrea. “Rushing Dinner to the Table: The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine and Industrialization’s Effects on Middle-Class Food and Cooking, 1852-1860.” Victorian Periodicals Review. 41:2. Toronto: Univ of Toronto Press, 2008. pp.101-123.; Cantor, Geoffrey et al. Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical; reading the magazine of nature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.; COPAC; Dancyger, Illustrated History of Women’s Magazines.; Doughan, David. "British Women's Serials." VPR. 2 (1989).; Ledbetter, Kathryn British Victorian Women's Periodicals: Beauty, Civilization, and Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p.1-207.; Louis, James. "'Now Inhale the Gas': Interactive Readership in Two Victorian Boys' Periodicals, 1855-1870." VPR vol 42, 2009, p.64-80.; Mitchell's.; Nestor, Pauline A. "A New Departure in Women's Publishing: The English Woman's Journal and The Victoria Magazine." VPR (1982): 93-106.; Ofek, Galia. Representations of Hair in Victorian Literature and Culture. Farnham, England: Ashgate, 2009, p.36.; Onslow, Barbara. "Preaching to the Ladies: Florence Fenwick Miller and her Readers in the Illustrated London News." Encounters in the Victorian Press: Editors, Authors, Readers. Laurel Brake and Julie F. Codell. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. p.88.; Palmegiano, “Checklist of British Women’s Periodicals”.; Ridder, Jolein De. “What? How? Why? Broadening the Mind with the Treasury of Literature (1868-1875), Supplement to the Ladies Treasury (1857-1895).” Victorian Periodicals Review. 43:1. Baltimore: John Hopkins Univ Press, 2010. pp.175-187; Uffelman, 1992.; White, Cynthia. Women's Magazines 1693-1968. London: Michael Joseph Ltd, 1970.; Willing's Press Guide, 1891. p.232 Histories: VPR 13:3, p.115, 15:3, pp.90-91,94.; Altick, English Common Reader.; Auerbach, “Women’s Magazines and the Emergence of Consumer Culture”.; Baldwin, "Philosophy and the Periodical Press".; Beetham, Domesticity and Desire.; Burnett, John, ed. Useful Toil. London: Allen Lane, 1974; Cano-Lopez, "The Outlandish Jane." VPR, 47:2 (2014):255-273.; Clayworth, “Oscar Wilde as Editor”: 84-101.; Drotner, Kirsten. English Children and Their Magazines, 1751-1945. New Haven and London; Foster, V. "The Dolly Varden." Dickensian 78 (1977): 19-24.; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.; Herd, March of Journalism.; Ledbetter, "Periodicals for Women" p.267.; Mccrimmon, “Richard Garnett as censor”.; Moruzi, "Children's Periodicals" p.298.; Nelson, Fatherhood in Victorian Periodicals .; Shattock, "Literature and the Expansion of the Press".; Thompson, “Gender and Reception”.; Tusan, Women Making News, pp.11, 36.; Van Arsdel, Rosemary T. Florence Fenwick Miller: Victorian Feminist Journalist and Educator Ashgate: Burlington, 2001: 31.; Van Remoortel, "What Genealogy Databases Can Do for Victorian Periodical Studies".; Ward, Megan. "'A Charm in those Fingers': Patterns, Taste, and the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine." VPR. 41.3 (Fall 2008): 248-269.; Kortsch, Christine Bayles. Dress Culture in Late Victorian Women's Fiction. Farnham, England: Ashgate, 2009. |
Comments: "The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine broke new ground in being the first cheap monthly magazine published in Britain specifically for middle-class women. It was also one of the first mass-circulation women's journals and became a template for the plethora of women's domestic periodicals launched in subsequent decades" (Noakes). "Seven years since...we addressed the public or, at least, 'our public', the women of the British Isles in No. 1 of The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine.... 'Well sir', we fancy we hear some of our fair readers say, 'we own you have hitherto done you 'devoir', you have performed your promises (and that is something in these days), you have also told us a little, just a little, of what we didn't know before but this latter remark, mind, Mr. Editor, is in 'perfect' confidence; but what are we to expect for the future?' Undoubtedly, Ladies, it is quite fair to ask the question, and we will, with your permission, trace out a few arrangements for the Eighth Volume of The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, 'Mignon; or the Stepdaughter'...A series of life- like stories...'The Englishwoman in London'....'Tales of The Operas'....'Poets their lives, songs and homes'....'What we think of it' or, a Woman's opinions on the Topics of the Day....'Amongst the Americans'....'Poesy of the Passions'; or Quotations from the Poets on the Feelings and Affections....'Fashions and Work-Table' including all the new Dresses and new Bonnets, with Diagrams and Patterns for making Dresses & C, and all the new patterns for Fancy work" (Preface vol 7 no 1, p.1). "A well-designed and profusely illustrated Woman's magazine containing fiction, reviews, theme articles (such as 'The Religions of the World', 'What We Wear', 'The Domestic History of England', 'Familiar Lines'), and the latest fashions (even including dress patterns and needlework designs), intended for the women of the Upper Classes. Every original and interesting object suitable for the Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, and likely to please those who buy it, has been secured by the Editor and those who are associated with him in London, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin. It is by a happy combination of the labours of the people of the most civilized and artistic countries in the world that this Magazine is able to be produced. From year's end to year's end, the tasteful ouvriers and ouvrières of Paris are employed in the fabrication of the pretty and authentic Fashion Plates, which accompany each Monthly Number. The skilful workmen of Belgium ply their handicraft to provide for Englishwomen the charming Embroidery and other Patterns, with that same marvellous manipulation which has made the lace of Brussels renowned throughout the world. The industrious workers of Berlin contribute, in their turn, a vast number of the beautiful plain and coloured Needlework Designs, which it would be impossible to find in any other capital. Finally, by English machinery, and by the aid of numerous well-loved friends amongst our countrymen and countrywomen, are we enabled to bring together and harmoniously blend a collection of novel and useful materials, quite unapproachable for their real excellence and intrinsic value" (Preface vol 2[2s], p.iv). Noakes explains that the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine was launched to appeal to the growing number of middle-class women in the 1850s. This was the "most successful and influential of British Victorian middle-class women's periodicals" (Ledbetter 267). Van Remoortel: "most contributions in a typical issue of the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine in its heyday during the 1860s were unsigned. Apart from the names of publisher Samuel Beeton and printer James Wade, no information was given about who was involved in the production of the periodical. Isabella Beeton's identity remained concealed behind the generic title of 'Editress' until her early death in 1865" (133). The first paper to be published for women of the middle classes, and particularly the lower-middle classes... and it was the first British women's magazine to achieve anything approaching mass sales" (Doughan, David. "British Women's Serials," 'VP', Vol 2, p.67). Nestor says, "Perhaps the best example in the nineteenth century of a general publication which managed to incorporate some advocacy of women's causes into a distinctly non-polemical framework was Samuel Beeton's highly successful Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine. Begun in 1852 and seen as the first 'cheap' magazine for women of the dispensing of practical information and advice on domestic management. Sewing, cooking, fashion, domestic and medical tips were its standard fare, enlivened by a generous amount of fiction. However, the Magazine was not responsive to the growing interest in the 'Woman Question'. April 1857 the editors announced their intention of taking up 'one or two questions engaging public attention' namely women's education and employment, and the alteration of the divorce laws: 'we intend to call in the aid of the ablest pens in England to describe the nature of this and all other laws affecting the fair sex.'" The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine used "the strategic disciplining of public taste and sensibility" to "sought to mitigate domestic and social suffering, including hardships caused by the industrialization of labor" (Baldwin 313). Starting in January 1860, there were a series of coloured portraits/fashion plates published each month entitled "The Fashions Expressly Designed & Prepared for The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine. Otherwise, the illustrations generally follow the stories and articles, sometimes even bearing the same name. Shattock explains that this was "another attempt to replicate Dickens's all-embracing 'conducting' of Household Words ("Literature" 513). "[G]eared toward thrift, contained information designed to promote industry, usefulness, and domestic management, and was crammed with weekly notes on cooking, fashion, dress patterns, gardening, pets, and hygiene" (Auerbach, 122). In this magazine, mingled with Mrs Beeton's recipe's, were "hints on how to destroy bedbugs" and "how to nurse the prevalent typhoid fever." Many of the stories made their middle class origins and designs to produce well mannered servants and silver fork bourgeoisie painfully clear" (Auerbach, 122). In the late 1860s and early 1870s the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine experienced an influx of letters on "the propriety of flogging daughters." Several articles addressed male-female roles (Nelson 56, 65, 236). "The [Second] Series format was ... more attractive, with better quality paper and more illustrations including pull-out embroidery patterns and coloured engravings of the Paris 'modes'. While the visual and fashion elements improved, the domestic and practical information was down-graded, with the exception of the needlework patters. Though the magazine maintained its double function, to 'add in every possible way . . . To the amusement and instructions' of its female readers, this shift away from practical domesticity and towards visual pleasure was crucial" (Beetham, "Domesticity" 73). The Scarlet Letter was published in the first EDM (Beetham, "Domesticity" 73). "Originated the idea of selling paper patterns to readers and of giving advice to younger readers about their problems of the heart (the feature was called 'Cupid's Letter Bag')" (Herd 208). After Isabella Beeton's death in 1865, Matilda Browne took her place as a contributor (Beetham, "Rise" 23). "[M]ost women's magazines had been expensive monthlies for upper-class ladies that either focused largely on fashion and beauty or soberly promoted the morality and spirituality of Christian motherhood. The Englishwoman's Domestic offered something very different and was frequently imitated. Its low price guaranteed it enormous sales among middle-class women for whom no comparable publication existed. Like the cheap fiction-based weeklies, it carried a large amount of medium-quality fiction, articles on history and biography, and answers to correspondents, but it trail-blazed with its systematic coverage of aspects of domestic management such as gardening, hygiene, and cookery. These articles best represent Beeton's aim to improve readers' intellectual, moral, and domestic abilities, and they furnished ample opportunities for introducing useful scientific and medical information" (Cantor 18-19). "In its first eight years, from its inception in 1852 to its upgrade and expansion in 1860, the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine combined the class aspirations of its readership with cultural interest in the related virtues of domesticity and routine." (Ward 248). "The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, which had more than 60,000 readers in 1871" (Ofek, p.37). "Paper patterns were originally directed to dressmakers, but as the market for home dressmaking grew, the average consumer gained increasing access to them. Women's magazines, such as the World of Fashion, the Queen and the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, led the way, printing illustrations and sometimes patterns that women could copy and use" (Kortsch 32). "Thus one of the best-known and most referenced discussions on [corsets] was a series of letters published in Samuel Beeton's the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. From 1867 to 1874, over 150 letters appeared in the correspondence section. The letters were so popular that in 1868 they were published as a collection under the title The Corset and the Crinoline; a later edition, The Freaks of Fashion, appeared in 1871. The correspondents boasted extremely small waist sizes, often as small as 16 inches, the dimension regarded both as the tiniest waist possible and as dressmakers' ideal." (Kortches 73). Cano-Lopez: it "provided a contradictory definition of womanhood: by focusing on household management, it defined women according to their domestic cares, yet at the same time it implied that good domestic management was not 'natural' but rather something that could be learned" (257). The magazine published work from American writers, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in England for the first time. Tusan explains that the English Woman's Domestic Magazine was part of a group of periodicals which contributed to "a growing specialized press that thrived during the late nineteenth century" (11). Willing's Press Guide says Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine became Illustrated Household Journal in 1880. Location: partial runs: OX/U-1 A 2:7 [2s]-9:54 [2s] (1860-1864), QZ/P-1 vols 1-2, 7 (1852-1854, 1859), LO/S51 E, Fawcett (wanting vols 4,5,7), LO/N-1 A vols 7, 1-2 [2s]; N.America: see Fulton; ULS 2&3; The full text is available on CENGAGE from Gale. |
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 Reproduced by permission, London University Library |
 Reproduced by permission, Bodleian Library |
 Reproduced from Google Books, Original from Oxford University |