The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850Smyth, Albert Henry
History
The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850
Smyth, Albert Henry
American periodicals -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
"I returned to my home after having obtained the number of eight
signatures, amounting to forty dollars. My husband took little notice of
my success for a time. I paid the house rent and secured the comforts of
a home. Each day I set apart for my visits five or six hours. In this
way I soon laid aside the means sufficient to issue the first number of
the _North American Quarterly Magazine_. When I had accumulated the sum
of seven hundred dollars I gave it into the hands of Mr. Fairfield. He
seemed amazed at my success. He found a dwelling to rent on Tenth, near
Chestnut Street. To this pleasant abode we immediately repaired. In a
very short time the work was out, and once more my heart rejoiced"
(Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 97).
Fairfield always contended that Bulwer stole from him the plot of his
"Last Days of Pompeii." The story as told by Mrs. Fairfield is as
follows: "His great poem, 'The Last Night of Pompeii,' was finished in
1830, and soon after its publication my husband sent copies to England,
to Bulwer. He also wrote him a very long letter, but never received
either an acknowledgment of the poem or the letter. Bulwer's novel of a
similar title appeared about two years afterward, and, it is only
_justice to the poet_ to say, was in _every_ respect an entire and most
flagrant plagiarism. The Argument, the Introduction of the Two Lovers,
Converted Christians, Forebodings of the Destruction, The Picture of
Pompeii in Ruins, The Forum of Pompeii, The Manners and Morals of
Campania Portrayed, Diomede, the Praetor, The Night Storm, Vesuvius
Threatening, Dialogue of the Christians--the scenes of the _whole plot_,
even the names of characters, _were all taken from this most grand and
sublime poem_" (Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 90).
The _North American Quarterly Magazine_ ceased in 1838.
_Waldie's Select Circulating Library_, furnishing the best popular
literature, price five dollars for fifty-two numbers, containing matter
equal to fifty London duodecimo volumes; printed and published weekly by
Adam Waldie, No. 6 North Eighth Street, Philadelphia. It was begun
January 15, 1833, and was edited by John Jay Smith (1798-1881). Smith
had been the editor of the _Saturday Bulletin_, 1830-32, _Littell's
Museum_, _Walsh's National Gazette_ and the _Daily Express_. The
magazine reprinted standard works and published original reviews and
literary notes.
The _American Lancet_, edited by F. S. Beattie, began February 23, 1833,
and was published fortnightly by Turner and Son.
The _Spy in Philadelphia and Spirit of the Age_, a weekly journal
advocating purity in politics, censured the vices of the time for a few
weeks after July 6, 1833.
The _Advocate of Science and Annals of Natural History_ was conducted by
W. P. Gibbons, 1834-5.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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