 Vol 1 title page, 1860. | |
| Editor | Norman Macleod |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Founded | 1860 |
| Final issue | 1910 |
| Language | English |
Good Words was a 19th-century monthly periodical established in Scotland in 1860 by the Scottish publisher Alexander Strahan. [1] Its first editor was Norman Macleod. After his death in 1872, it was edited by his brother, Donald Macleod, [2] though there is some evidence that the publishing was taken over at that time by W. Isbister & Co. [3]
Good Words was directed at evangelicals and nonconformists, particularly of the lower middle classes. It included overtly religious material, but also fiction and non-fiction articles on general subjects, including science. [4] The standard for content was that the devout should be able to read it on Sundays without sin. [5] It became known as a "fireside read", which could be shared and enjoyed by adults, servants and masters. [6]
Good Words was known for illustrations by such artists as John Everett Millais and Arthur Boyd Houghton, engraved by the Brothers Dalziel. [6]
In 1863, Norman Macleod wrote that the magazine had a circulation of 70,000. [1] In the following year, it advertised a monthly circulation of 160,000, but the number is probably exaggerated. [7] [8]
In 1906, Good Words was amalgamated with the weekly Sunday Magazine, and published in that format until 1910. [9]
Anthony Trollope was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which revolves around the imaginary county of Barsetshire. He also wrote novels on political, social, and gender issues, and other topical matters.
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
John Andrew Sutherland is a British academic, newspaper columnist and author. He is Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.
Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular serial literature produced during the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typically referred to a story published in weekly parts of 8 to 16 pages, each costing one penny. The subject matter of these stories was typically sensational, focusing on the exploits of detectives, criminals, or supernatural entities. First published in the 1830s, penny dreadfuls featured characters such as Sweeney Todd, Dick Turpin, Varney the Vampire, and Spring-heeled Jack.
Ellen Price was an English novelist better known as Mrs. Henry Wood. She is best remembered for her 1861 novel East Lynne. Many of her books sold well internationally and were widely read in the United States. In her time, she surpassed Charles Dickens in fame in Australia.
The Princess and the Goblin is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. It was published in 1872 by Strahan & Co., with black-and-white illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Strahan had published the story and illustrations as a serial in the monthly magazine Good Words for the Young, beginning November 1870.
Charles Edward Mudie , English publisher and founder of Mudie's Lending Library and Mudie's Subscription Library, was the son of a second-hand bookseller and newsagent. Mudie's efficient distribution system and vast supply of texts revolutionized the circulating library movement, while his "select" library influenced Victorian middle-class values and the structure of the three-volume novel. He was also the first publisher of James Russell Lowell's poems in England, and of Emerson's Man Thinking.
The three-volume novel was a standard form of publishing for British fiction during the nineteenth century. It was a significant stage in the development of the modern novel as a form of popular literature in Western culture.
The Cornhill Magazine (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London. In the 1860s, under the editorship of William Makepeace Thackeray, the paper's large circulation peaked around 110,000. Due to emerging competitors, circulation fell to 20,000 by 1870. The following year, Leslie Stephen took over as editor. When Stephen left in 1882, circulation had further fallen to 12,000. The Cornhill was purchased by John Murray in 1912, and continued to publish issues until 1975.
The Fortnightly Review was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000; the first edition appeared on 15 May 1865. George Henry Lewes, the partner of George Eliot, was its first editor, followed by John Morley.
In literature, a serial is a printing or publishing format by which a single larger work, often a work of narrative fiction, is published in smaller, sequential instalments. The instalments are also known as numbers, parts, fascicules or fascicles, and may be released either as separate publications or within sequential issues of a periodical publication, such as a magazine or newspaper.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal was a weekly 16-page magazine started by William Chambers in 1832. The first edition was dated 4 February 1832, and priced at one penny. Topics included history, religion, language, and science. William was soon joined as joint editor by his brother Robert, who wrote many of the articles for the early issues, and within a few years the journal had a circulation of 84,000. From 1847 to 1849, it was edited by William Henry Wills. In 1854 the title was changed to Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, and changed again to Chambers's Journal at the end of 1897.
Temple Bar was a literary periodical of the mid and late 19th and very early 20th centuries (1860–1906). The complete title was Temple Bar – A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers. It was initially edited by George Augustus Sala, and Arthur Ransome was the final editor before it folded, while he developed his literary career. It was also edited by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
Bradbury & Evans (est.1830) was a printing and publishing business founded in London by William Bradbury (1799–1869) and Frederick Mullett Evans (1804–1870).
Macmillan's Magazine was a monthly British magazine published 1859 to 1907 by Alexander Macmillan.
Rachel Ray is an 1863 novel by Anthony Trollope. It recounts the story of a young woman who is forced to give up her fiancé because of baseless suspicions directed toward him by the members of her community, including her sister and the pastors of the two churches attended by her sister and mother.
John Thomas Dicks (1818–1881) was a publisher in London in the 19th century. He issued popular, affordably priced fiction and drama, such as "shilling Shakespeares and wonderfully cheap reprints of Scott and other standard authors." Earlier in his career he worked with Peter Perring Thoms and George W. M. Reynolds. Employees included illustrator Frederick Gilbert. Readers included Thomas Burt and Havelock Ellis. Dicks retired in the 1870s, when his sons took over the firm which continued into the 1960s.
Alexander Strahan (1833–1918) was a 19th-century publisher. His company, Alexander Strahan & Co., based at Ludgate Hill in London, published what was arguably one of the dominant periodicals in the 1860s, a monthly magazine called Good Words.
The Reader was a British weekly published from 1863 to 1867. Intended as a review journal, for both science and literature, it has been called "probably the last attempt, in Victorian England, to keep together liberal scientists, theologians, and men of letters."
Good Words for the Young was a 19th-century six penny monthly periodical established in Scotland in 1869 by the Scottish publisher Alexander Strahan that was specifically for children. Its first editor was Norman Macleod.
Media related to Good Words at Wikimedia Commons