With no money—a few friends, and a thousand discouragements thrust upon us by timid well-wishers—and half-hearted comforters—we undertook to carry Graham’s Magazine—with its harvest of money, received in December, January and February, the pick months of the year, scattered—we undertook, we say, to carry this book triumphantly—in the face of the fiercest competition the business has ever known—through the year 1850. The American Press with a chivalry for a prostrate brother, such as has never been witnessed—with one accord, from the extreme North to the extreme South, raised its voice of encouragement—its cheer for our success—and we now close the volume with an addition of over 10,000 subscribers since July, and with the uttermost liberality in expenditure in the manufacture of Graham’s Magazine, _met_ by the tremendous resources which _you_, gentlemen, by the power of advertising, in liberal notices, have showered upon us. From our heart we thank you! Our experience in the press, daily, weekly, and monthly, for twelve years, has taught us how little the press itself knows of its own power—how few out of it know its giant resources—the wealth it carries on its wings to those who use it wisely. Judge, then, whether we, who have partaken so largely of its benefits from your generosity alone, knowing fully the vast service your kindness has done us, can do less than convey to you our sense of the obligation, with a hope that the day is dawning which will enable us to _attempt_ in some poor sort to repay you. We say _attempt_ to repay, for the reactionary benefit will be ten-fold upon ourself—so that we must by inevitable laws, remain forever your debtor. GRAHAM. * * * * * [Illustration: LE MONITEUR DE LA MODE. Journal du Monde Elégant. _Toilettes de la Maison_ Popelin Ducarre. _Modes de_ Mélanie Brun & C^{ie}., _5 rue de la Paix. Fleurs et_ _plumes de_ Perrot & C^{ie}. _Bijoux_ Gillion, _9, Boul^{t}. des Italiens._ _Mouchoirs de_ Chapron & Dubois, _rue de la Paix_. _The styles of goods here represented can be had of_ _Mess._ L. J. Levy & C^{o}., _PHILADELPHIA,_ _and at_ Stewart's, _NEW YORK_.] * * * * * Transcriber’s Notes: Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained as well as some spellings peculiar to Graham’s. Punctuation has been corrected without note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. For illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to condition of the originals used for preparation of the ebook.