Detailed Record
Scots Magazine, The;
vol 1 no 1, 9 February 1739 - vol 65, Dec 1803
then: Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany, The; being a general repository of literature, history, and politics. vol 66, Jan 1804 - vol 79, Jul 1817
then: Edinburgh Magazine, and Literary Miscellany, The; a new series of the Scots magazine. vol 1, Aug 1817 - vol 18, Jun 1826//
then: Edinburgh Magazine, and Literary Miscellany, The; a new series of the Scots magazine. vol 1, Aug 1817 - vol 18, Jun 1826//
Edinburgh,Edinburghshire
Editor:
Archibald Constable and Co (1817)
Brewster (1804)
W. James Cleghorn (co-editor Sep 1817)
John Leyden (1802)
Hector MacNeill (17??)
Robert Morehead (1819)
Alex. Murray (1802)
Hugh Murray (1817)
Thomas Pringle (co-editor Sep 1817; 1819)
William Smellie (17??)
William Stevenson (17??)
Brewster (1804)
W. James Cleghorn (co-editor Sep 1817)
John Leyden (1802)
Hector MacNeill (17??)
Robert Morehead (1819)
Alex. Murray (1802)
Hugh Murray (1817)
Thomas Pringle (co-editor Sep 1817; 1819)
William Smellie (17??)
William Stevenson (17??)
Proprietor:
Archibald Constable and Co (1801-1817)
W.J. Cleghom
James Cochrane (founder 1739)
Alexander Murray (founder 1739)
Hugh Murray (1817)
T. Pringle (Sep 1817)
James Watson (1794, 1800)
W.J. Cleghom
James Cochrane (founder 1739)
Alexander Murray (founder 1739)
Hugh Murray (1817)
T. Pringle (Sep 1817)
James Watson (1794, 1800)
Publisher:
Archibald Constable and Co (1817)
James Cochrane (1739)
Archibald Constable (1801 - 1817)
Alexander Murray (1739)
James Watson (1794 - 1801)
James Cochrane (1739)
Archibald Constable (1801 - 1817)
Alexander Murray (1739)
James Watson (1794 - 1801)
Printer:
Alex. Chapman and Co (1800, 1803)
Alexander Murray and James Cochran (1739 - 1793)
Alex. Brymer (1739)
Alexander Chapman (1794)
James Cochran (1739)
Archibald Constable (1804 - 1817)
George Ramsay and Co (1817)
J. Ruthven and Sons (1817)
Alexander Murray
William Sands (1739)
Alexander Murray and James Cochran (1739 - 1793)
Alex. Brymer (1739)
Alexander Chapman (1794)
James Cochran (1739)
Archibald Constable (1804 - 1817)
George Ramsay and Co (1817)
J. Ruthven and Sons (1817)
Alexander Murray
William Sands (1739)
Contributors:
William Allan
Alex. Balfour
Henry Bell
Beugo
David Brewster
Robert Burns
James Cochran
George Combe
Henry Cotton
Allan Cunningham
Thomas Mounsey Cunningham
Alexander Dallzel
Thomas F. Dibdin
J. Dunlop
George Dyer
James Forrest
Edward Forster
John Galt
William Gillespie
George Gleig
William Hazlett
Felicia Dorothea Hemans
David Herd
James Hislop
David Irving
William S. Irving
Robert Jamieson
James King
Alex. Lawson
John Leyden
Hector MacNeil
Robert MacNish
John McDiarmid
Andrew Mercer
James Millar
David Macbeth Moir
Alex. Molleston
Alexander Murray
Patrick Neil
Hugh Brown James Nicol
James Pace
A.W. Shand
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe
Robert Stevenson
William Stevenson
Andrew Stewart
Jamie Thomson
Hector Walker
Josiah Walker
Alaric A. Watts
Henry Wm. Weber
J. Welch
William Wight
Alex. Balfour
Henry Bell
Beugo
David Brewster
Robert Burns
James Cochran
George Combe
Henry Cotton
Allan Cunningham
Thomas Mounsey Cunningham
Alexander Dallzel
Thomas F. Dibdin
J. Dunlop
George Dyer
James Forrest
Edward Forster
John Galt
William Gillespie
George Gleig
William Hazlett
Felicia Dorothea Hemans
David Herd
James Hislop
David Irving
William S. Irving
Robert Jamieson
James King
Alex. Lawson
John Leyden
Hector MacNeil
Robert MacNish
John McDiarmid
Andrew Mercer
James Millar
David Macbeth Moir
Alex. Molleston
Alexander Murray
Patrick Neil
Hugh Brown James Nicol
James Pace
A.W. Shand
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe
Robert Stevenson
William Stevenson
Andrew Stewart
Jamie Thomson
Hector Walker
Josiah Walker
Alaric A. Watts
Henry Wm. Weber
J. Welch
William Wight
Names:
Alexander Bald
Alex Brymer (founder and seller 1739)
Thomas Miller Cunningham
William Sands (founder and seller 1739)
Alex Brymer (founder and seller 1739)
Thomas Miller Cunningham
William Sands (founder and seller 1739)
Size:
[at least] 754pp/vol; 8vo, 48pp (1739); 21cm, 74pp (Jan 1800); 69pp (Dec 1803)
Price:
6d (1739); 1s6d (1802); 2s (1817); 2d (1817)
Frequency:
monthly
Illustration:
portrait engravings, tables
Indexing:
index/vol; T of C/no
Departments:
book reviews, poetry, literature, parliamentary intelligence, national news, biographies, b/m/d, historical affairs, monthly register of news, weekly essays from London periodicals, poetical essays, Scottish news, foreign affairs, register of new publications, the journal of the proceedings and debates of the Political Club (extracted from the London Magazine, was an account of the speeches made in Parliament), reviews (in the form of extracts from pamphlets and books), serial stories, original poetry, literary and scientific intelligence, original communications, prose, reviews and analytical notices of new publications, lists and meteorological, agricultural, commercial reports, reprints
Orientation:
neutral
Merges:
absorbed The Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany to form The Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany (ISM)
Sources:
AELP (1981).; DNB v, 948, 317-18.; Dunlap, Barbara J. in Sullivan, British Literary Magazines, vol 2, pp.133-137.;Mitchell.; NCBEL.; Black (1914): 13.; Imrie, D.S.M., The Story of The Scots Magazine (1939).; Jamieson, James H. Bibliography of East Lothian. Edinburgh, 1936: 68-70.; Sullivan, British Literary Magazines, vol 1, pp.299-303.; Uffelman, 1992.; White's The English Literary Journal To 1900
Histories:
Anderson, Iain F. "The Scots Magazine and the '45." Scots Magazine 14 (1931): 328-338.; ‘A Tragic Fragment’; ‘The pet's Punch-Bowl.’ " Scots Magazine 20 (1934): 255-63, 361-69, 453-61.; Cook, Davidson. "Burns and The Scots Magazine. The Version of ‘Highland Mary’; Cowan (1946): 7.; Craig, Scottish Periodical Press 1750-1789, p.33.; Devine, The Scottish Nation p.67.; Elliott, Robert C. "The Early Scots Magazine." MLQ 11 (1950): 189-96.; Extracts from the Scots Magazine [1739-40].” Scots Magazine 30 (1939)--32 (1940).; Extracts from the Scots Magazine [1777-1788]." Scots Magazine 7 (1927)--30 (1938).; Fawcett, J.W. "Editors of the Scots Magazine." SNQ 9:3s (1931): 140 cf., C.D., pp.160, 219-220.; Finkelstein, "Early Nineteenth-Century Scottish Publishing" pp.79-80.; Graham, British Literary Periodicals, pp.164-165.; Groves, D. "James Hogg and the Scots Magazine." Library 9 6s (1987): 164-9.; Harris, "Literary Journalism, 1707-1918," p.309.; Imrie, D.S.M. "The Story of The Scots Magazine." Scots Magazine 30 (1939): 269-274, 341-249, 445-452.; "Looking Backward from the Scots Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 10, October, 1739; Niven, G.W. "Bibliography of Edinburgh and Periodical Literature: the Scots Magazine.” SNQ 11 (1898): 146.; Niven. SNQ 9 (Apr 1898): 146.; 'Ourselves 150 Years Ago; extracts from the Scots Magazine (1777-1788)". Scots Magazine 7 (1927)-30 (1938).; "Ourselves 200 Years Ago.; Perkins, Women Writers and the Edinburgh Enlightenment.; Smart, William. Economic Annals of the Nineteenth Century: 1801-1820. vol 1. New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1964.; "The Bibliographies of the Scots Magazine and Blackwood’s Magazine.” N&Q 1 (1898): 265.; "The Bibliography of the Scots Magazine.” Library 10 (1898): 310.; Timperly, C.H. Encyclopaedia of Literary and Typographical Anecdotes. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1977.; VPR 17:3, p.111.
Comments:
Motto: "Ne quid falfi dicere audeat; ne quid veri non audeat".
"It was the 18th century practice to publish a magazine in the month following the month for which it was the issue."
The Scottish Enlightenment, which was a prominent subject when the Scots Magazine was published, was often discussed in the magazine's pages (Devine 67).
The Scots Magazine was the first magazine published in Scotland; it was modelled after the London magazines, which were monthly summaries of news, politics and literature. In the preface to vol 1: "The demand for these [i.e. the English] magazines being considerable in this Kingdom, and our distance from the place of publication rendering their contents stale before they come to hand, several persons were put upon endeavouring to remove these inconveniences by supplying their place with a production of our own." Other reasons for publication were the desire to cater to Scottish interests and to give an opportunity for the free expressing of opinions.
Sullivan explains that the founders "felt that those [London] magazines failed to deal adequately with Scottish affairs and that, by the time they arrived in Edinburgh, their contents were stale" (300).
"In imitation of the Gentleman's Magazine, the Scots Magazine was begun in 1739. From the outset it handled politics as well as literature. The proceedings of its 'Political' Club were a digest of Parliament, the speakers having the disguise of classical names, and it professed impartiality" (Cowan).
"A prospectus issued...advertised the periodical as a 'sixpenny weekly journal for Scotland...a Record and a Review of current Politics, Literature, Science, Art, etc.' It went on to promise that 'while giving due prominence to Imperial and General Affairs, it [would] also deal specifically with subjects of National Interest...Politically, The Scots Observer will give hearty support to Constitutional principles necessary for the maintenance of the unity of the Empire'. The promise was kept. In the earliest years it was circulated in York, Newcastle, Alnwick, Berwick, Coldstream, Kelso, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bo'ness, Fifeshire, Stirlingshire, Perthshire, Aberdeen, Forres, and Skye. In 1801 the portrait engravings were done by Beugo. So long as Murray and Cochrane were associated with the magazine, it remained a repository of reprinted matter mainly historical. In the literary field there was little original matter. With the coming of Archibald Constable in 1802 the magazine improved greatly and was filled with original communications, essays, biographies, and reviews. In Oct 1802, while continuing to publish the Scots Magazine, Constable began a new one, The Edinburgh Review. In 1804 this new magazine was merged with the Scots Magazine. The amalgamation contained miscellaneous prose, reviews, poetry, accounts of historical affairs, Scottish chronicle, and monthly view. Pringle and Cleghorn had earlier been the first editors of Blackwood's Edinburgh Monthly Magazine in April 1817. In its final stages The Scots Magazine struggled to withstand the challenge of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine first published in Oct 1817 as a rival against Constable and the Whigs. In Feb 1821 there appeared an article entitled 'The Genius of the Scots Magazine to the Reader' [paraphrased]: Among this load of vapid essays and puerile poetry, many gems are to be found which redeem my character from the unfounded charge of hopeless and persevering stupidity. I once was fond of joking, though my Editors have long since moulded the muscles of my face into an almost imperturbable gravity. There was scarcely a character of Celebrity in Scotland during the last Century who was not among my Contributors. An ill-assorted marriage, which was propounded to me by the Edinburgh Magazine, and too easily gone into on my part, editors who did not fall into my humour or that of the public have been the chief causes of my declension. One thing I take the credit for, and that is recording those daily occurrences which, were it not for me, would be talked of for a moment and then forgotten forever. It ceased publication after June 1826. Imrie did his thesis on early Scottish periodical literature and his work was originally published in The Scots Magazine (Jan-Jun 1939).
An advertisement in the Aug 1817 issue (pp.3-4) gives a history of the Scots Magazine from 1739 on, with an explanation of the merges in which it was involved.
"So far as I am aware, the bibliographers of the Scots Magazine are always at fault when chronicling the stoppage of that periodical in 1826. By the sequestration of its last publisher, Archibald Constable, the copyright became the property of his creditors. The other copyrights were sold on 19th December, 1827, but no mention is made of any purchaser of that of the Scots Magazine. On instituting a search in contemporary literature for some fact to elucidate the matter, I was rewarded by the discovery of the following advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of 27th July 1826: Edinburgh Magazine: A new Series of the Scots Magazine. The Trustee upon the Sequestrated Estate of Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co., begs to inform the subscribers to the above Work that the Publication of it is now discontinued, the Copyright having been purchased by Mr. Blackwood. Edinburgh, 12 July, 1826.' Niven had been unable to obtain any further information, and makes the following 'In Mrs. Oliphant's 'Life of William Blackwood', recently published, there is no mention of such a transference of copyright, and it is stated the Scots Magazine was discontinued soon after the appearance of Blackwood's Magazine in 1817. It appears curious that Blackwood should have ended his war with Constable, waged since 1817, by the purchase of his rival magazine; and also strange that he himself and contemporary, as well as later literature, should be entirely silent on the subject, with the exception of the official notification by the Trustee quoted above" (Niven, p.146).
"This purported to be, as it was, nothing more than a compilation of extracts from current newspapers, magazines, and books" (Craig 33).
Ended in 1833 (White's 1930, p.166).
In 1810, a writer in the Scots Magazine welcomed "the power of steam and the introduction of the threshing machine," but saw "nothing but a sacrifice on the altar of Mammon in 'the intermingling of youth of both sexes in the receptacles of our cotton mills.'" But the writer hailed the invention of Steen's loom because he felt it would "diminish the number of those employed in that unhealthy occupation" (Smart 226).
The Scots Magazine contains an account of a very interesting project of Telford, that of an iron railway spanning the whole breadth of the country, connecting Glasgow and Berwick. The Scots Magazine speaks derisively about the "amusing conclusion" of many in 1816 that the price of wheat in Windsor Market was somehow connected to the newly noticed sun spots (Smart 496).
In 1817, a new rival appeared called Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Shortly after the rival's appearance, the Scots Magazine changed its name and format to more closely imitate Blackwood's, "without, it must be said, the [same] note of distinction" (Smart 589).
Smart writes that in 1818, the Scots Magazine writes: "the present corn laws seem to please nobody. They are a standing topic of reproach with speculative men, as well as with the great body of the manufacturing classes; and now the agriculturists, whom they were to save from utter ruin, take the lead in seeking their repeal" (654).
"In 1801, Mr. Constable acquired the property of the Scots Magazine...He had always longed to become instrumental in adding something of importance to the stock of knowledge, and to enrol [sic] his name in the list of the more liberal and enterprising publishers of the day. His fame as a publisher commenced with the appearance of the Edinburgh Review, which he had the honour of ushering into the world" (Timperley).
In the mid-nineteenth century (c.1845), the publication published a hybrid of miscellaneous articles for readers and summaries of current events. This publication form avoided stamp duties (Harris 309).
William Stevenson, Elizabeth Gaskell's father, was an editor for a brief time (Finkelstein 80), although nobody knows when he did so. The best guess would be in the late eighteenth-century before Archibald Constable took over. Stevenson also contributed to the Scots Magazine extensively.
A note by G.W. Niven in SNQ 9 (April 1898) says: "So far as I am aware, the bibliographers of the Scots Magazine are always at fault when chronicling the stoppage of that periodical in 1826. By the sequestration of its last publisher, Archibald Constable, the copyright became the property of his creditors. The other copyrights were sold on 19th December, 1827, but no mention is made of any purchaser of that of the Scots Magazine. On instituting a search in contemporary literature for some fact to elucidate the matter, I was rewarded by the discovery of the following advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of 27th July 1826: 'Edinburgh Magazine: A new Series of the Scots Magazine. The Trustee upon the Sequestrated Estate of Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co., begs to inform the subscribers to the above Work that the Publication of it is now discontinued, the Copyright having been purchased by Mr. Blackwood. Edinburgh, 12 July, 1826.'"
Niven had been unable to obtain any further information, and makes the following comments: "In Mrs. Oliphant's Life of William Blackwood, recently published, there is no mention of such a transference of copyright, and it is stated the Scots Magazine was discontinued soon after the appearance of Blackwood's Magazine in 1817. It appears curious that Blackwood should have ended his war with Constable, waged since 1817, by the purchase of his rival magazine; and also strange that he himself and contemporary, as well as later literature, should be entirely silent on the subject, with the exception of the official notification by the Trustee quoted above."
The title was published primarly in Edinburgh, but it circulated widely, including London and Dundee.
Graham: "It was concluded in June 1826, with the fall of the house of Constable" (165).
"It was the 18th century practice to publish a magazine in the month following the month for which it was the issue."
The Scottish Enlightenment, which was a prominent subject when the Scots Magazine was published, was often discussed in the magazine's pages (Devine 67).
The Scots Magazine was the first magazine published in Scotland; it was modelled after the London magazines, which were monthly summaries of news, politics and literature. In the preface to vol 1: "The demand for these [i.e. the English] magazines being considerable in this Kingdom, and our distance from the place of publication rendering their contents stale before they come to hand, several persons were put upon endeavouring to remove these inconveniences by supplying their place with a production of our own." Other reasons for publication were the desire to cater to Scottish interests and to give an opportunity for the free expressing of opinions.
Sullivan explains that the founders "felt that those [London] magazines failed to deal adequately with Scottish affairs and that, by the time they arrived in Edinburgh, their contents were stale" (300).
"In imitation of the Gentleman's Magazine, the Scots Magazine was begun in 1739. From the outset it handled politics as well as literature. The proceedings of its 'Political' Club were a digest of Parliament, the speakers having the disguise of classical names, and it professed impartiality" (Cowan).
"A prospectus issued...advertised the periodical as a 'sixpenny weekly journal for Scotland...a Record and a Review of current Politics, Literature, Science, Art, etc.' It went on to promise that 'while giving due prominence to Imperial and General Affairs, it [would] also deal specifically with subjects of National Interest...Politically, The Scots Observer will give hearty support to Constitutional principles necessary for the maintenance of the unity of the Empire'. The promise was kept. In the earliest years it was circulated in York, Newcastle, Alnwick, Berwick, Coldstream, Kelso, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bo'ness, Fifeshire, Stirlingshire, Perthshire, Aberdeen, Forres, and Skye. In 1801 the portrait engravings were done by Beugo. So long as Murray and Cochrane were associated with the magazine, it remained a repository of reprinted matter mainly historical. In the literary field there was little original matter. With the coming of Archibald Constable in 1802 the magazine improved greatly and was filled with original communications, essays, biographies, and reviews. In Oct 1802, while continuing to publish the Scots Magazine, Constable began a new one, The Edinburgh Review. In 1804 this new magazine was merged with the Scots Magazine. The amalgamation contained miscellaneous prose, reviews, poetry, accounts of historical affairs, Scottish chronicle, and monthly view. Pringle and Cleghorn had earlier been the first editors of Blackwood's Edinburgh Monthly Magazine in April 1817. In its final stages The Scots Magazine struggled to withstand the challenge of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine first published in Oct 1817 as a rival against Constable and the Whigs. In Feb 1821 there appeared an article entitled 'The Genius of the Scots Magazine to the Reader' [paraphrased]: Among this load of vapid essays and puerile poetry, many gems are to be found which redeem my character from the unfounded charge of hopeless and persevering stupidity. I once was fond of joking, though my Editors have long since moulded the muscles of my face into an almost imperturbable gravity. There was scarcely a character of Celebrity in Scotland during the last Century who was not among my Contributors. An ill-assorted marriage, which was propounded to me by the Edinburgh Magazine, and too easily gone into on my part, editors who did not fall into my humour or that of the public have been the chief causes of my declension. One thing I take the credit for, and that is recording those daily occurrences which, were it not for me, would be talked of for a moment and then forgotten forever. It ceased publication after June 1826. Imrie did his thesis on early Scottish periodical literature and his work was originally published in The Scots Magazine (Jan-Jun 1939).
An advertisement in the Aug 1817 issue (pp.3-4) gives a history of the Scots Magazine from 1739 on, with an explanation of the merges in which it was involved.
"So far as I am aware, the bibliographers of the Scots Magazine are always at fault when chronicling the stoppage of that periodical in 1826. By the sequestration of its last publisher, Archibald Constable, the copyright became the property of his creditors. The other copyrights were sold on 19th December, 1827, but no mention is made of any purchaser of that of the Scots Magazine. On instituting a search in contemporary literature for some fact to elucidate the matter, I was rewarded by the discovery of the following advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of 27th July 1826: Edinburgh Magazine: A new Series of the Scots Magazine. The Trustee upon the Sequestrated Estate of Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co., begs to inform the subscribers to the above Work that the Publication of it is now discontinued, the Copyright having been purchased by Mr. Blackwood. Edinburgh, 12 July, 1826.' Niven had been unable to obtain any further information, and makes the following 'In Mrs. Oliphant's 'Life of William Blackwood', recently published, there is no mention of such a transference of copyright, and it is stated the Scots Magazine was discontinued soon after the appearance of Blackwood's Magazine in 1817. It appears curious that Blackwood should have ended his war with Constable, waged since 1817, by the purchase of his rival magazine; and also strange that he himself and contemporary, as well as later literature, should be entirely silent on the subject, with the exception of the official notification by the Trustee quoted above" (Niven, p.146).
"This purported to be, as it was, nothing more than a compilation of extracts from current newspapers, magazines, and books" (Craig 33).
Ended in 1833 (White's 1930, p.166).
In 1810, a writer in the Scots Magazine welcomed "the power of steam and the introduction of the threshing machine," but saw "nothing but a sacrifice on the altar of Mammon in 'the intermingling of youth of both sexes in the receptacles of our cotton mills.'" But the writer hailed the invention of Steen's loom because he felt it would "diminish the number of those employed in that unhealthy occupation" (Smart 226).
The Scots Magazine contains an account of a very interesting project of Telford, that of an iron railway spanning the whole breadth of the country, connecting Glasgow and Berwick. The Scots Magazine speaks derisively about the "amusing conclusion" of many in 1816 that the price of wheat in Windsor Market was somehow connected to the newly noticed sun spots (Smart 496).
In 1817, a new rival appeared called Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Shortly after the rival's appearance, the Scots Magazine changed its name and format to more closely imitate Blackwood's, "without, it must be said, the [same] note of distinction" (Smart 589).
Smart writes that in 1818, the Scots Magazine writes: "the present corn laws seem to please nobody. They are a standing topic of reproach with speculative men, as well as with the great body of the manufacturing classes; and now the agriculturists, whom they were to save from utter ruin, take the lead in seeking their repeal" (654).
"In 1801, Mr. Constable acquired the property of the Scots Magazine...He had always longed to become instrumental in adding something of importance to the stock of knowledge, and to enrol [sic] his name in the list of the more liberal and enterprising publishers of the day. His fame as a publisher commenced with the appearance of the Edinburgh Review, which he had the honour of ushering into the world" (Timperley).
In the mid-nineteenth century (c.1845), the publication published a hybrid of miscellaneous articles for readers and summaries of current events. This publication form avoided stamp duties (Harris 309).
William Stevenson, Elizabeth Gaskell's father, was an editor for a brief time (Finkelstein 80), although nobody knows when he did so. The best guess would be in the late eighteenth-century before Archibald Constable took over. Stevenson also contributed to the Scots Magazine extensively.
A note by G.W. Niven in SNQ 9 (April 1898) says: "So far as I am aware, the bibliographers of the Scots Magazine are always at fault when chronicling the stoppage of that periodical in 1826. By the sequestration of its last publisher, Archibald Constable, the copyright became the property of his creditors. The other copyrights were sold on 19th December, 1827, but no mention is made of any purchaser of that of the Scots Magazine. On instituting a search in contemporary literature for some fact to elucidate the matter, I was rewarded by the discovery of the following advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of 27th July 1826: 'Edinburgh Magazine: A new Series of the Scots Magazine. The Trustee upon the Sequestrated Estate of Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co., begs to inform the subscribers to the above Work that the Publication of it is now discontinued, the Copyright having been purchased by Mr. Blackwood. Edinburgh, 12 July, 1826.'"
Niven had been unable to obtain any further information, and makes the following comments: "In Mrs. Oliphant's Life of William Blackwood, recently published, there is no mention of such a transference of copyright, and it is stated the Scots Magazine was discontinued soon after the appearance of Blackwood's Magazine in 1817. It appears curious that Blackwood should have ended his war with Constable, waged since 1817, by the purchase of his rival magazine; and also strange that he himself and contemporary, as well as later literature, should be entirely silent on the subject, with the exception of the official notification by the Trustee quoted above."
The title was published primarly in Edinburgh, but it circulated widely, including London and Dundee.
Graham: "It was concluded in June 1826, with the fall of the house of Constable" (165).
Location:
partial runs: ED/N-1 A, IPL (1739, 1770, 1799, 1802, 1814), Sandeman Lib Perth vols 1-90, vols 1-25 [2s] (1739-1822, 1888-1900), QZ/P99 vols 1-18 (1739-1826), SAUL ([1739]-1826), ED/U18 G vols 1-97 (1739-1826), ED/U-1 nos 1-65 (1739-1803), LO/N-1 A vols 1-18 [4s] (Jan 1739-Jun 1826), QZ/P-1 vols 1-79, 1-18 (1739-1817, Aug 1817-Jun 1826), QZ/P30 (1739-1740, 1742-1757), DN/U-1 (1747- 1794, 1817), GULSL (1807), QZ/P16 vol 72 (1810), QZ/P10 (May 1816, Jan 1826), OX/U-1 A vols 1 [4s]-18 (1817-1826, imp), ED/M-1 E vols 1-15 (1817-1824), QZ/P16 (1887+), ED/S-1 K vols 56-93 (1952-1970), Kirkcaldy PL (Jan-Dec 1810), Church of Scotland General Assembly Lib (1817-1826), QZ/P- 2 (1739-1808); N.America: ULS 2&3; Full text at BNA and Google Books (1770-1775, 1788, 1793, 1823-1825)
Reproduced by Permission, Aderdeenshire Libraries
Reproduced by Permission, Aderdeenshire Libraries
Reproduced from Google Books
Reproduced by Permission, New College Library
Reproduced by Permission, New College Library