Godey's Lady's Book

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Cover from June 1867 issue

Godey's Lady's Book, alternatively known as Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, was a United States magazine which was published in Philadelphia and popular among women during the 19th century. In the 1860s Godey's considered itself the "queen of monthlies".

Contents

[edit] Overview

The magazine was published by Louis A. Godey from Philadelphia for 48 years (1830–1878) (it was published by someone else after Godey died). Godey intended to take advantage of the popularity of gift books, many of which were marketed specifically to women.[1] Each issue contained poetry, articles, and engravings created by prominent writers and other artists of the time. Sarah Josepha Hale (author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb") was its editor from 1837 until 1877 and only published original, American manuscripts. Although the magazine contained work by both men and women, Hale published three special issues which only included work done by women.

When Hale started at Godey's, the magazine had a circulation of ten thousand subscribers. Two years later, it jumped to 40,000 and by 1860 had 150,000 subscribers.[2]

In 1845, Louis Godey began copyrighting each issue of the magazine to prevent other magazine and newspaper editors from pirating their texts. This move, a first in America, was criticized by editors at the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. They called it a "narrowly selfish course" and that Godey would "rue it bitterly".[3]

The magazine was expensive; subscribers paid $3 per year (for comparison, The Saturday Evening Post was only $2 per year).[4] Even so, it was the most popular journal in its day.[5] Under Hale's editorship, the list of subscribers to Godey's reached 150,000.[6] Hale took advantage of her role and became influential as an arbiter of American taste.[7] She used some of her influence to further several causes for women. For example, she created a regular section with the heading "Employment for Women" beginning in 1852 to discuss women in the workforce.[8]

In general, Godey disliked discussing political issues or controversial topics in his magazine. In the 1850s, he dismissed Sara Jane Lippincott ("Grace Greenwood") as assistant editor for denouncing slavery in the National Era. Lippincott publicly denounced Godey in response and Godey later recanted.[9] Nevertheless, he forbade his journal from taking a position during the American Civil War. In fact, during the war, the magazine made no acknowledgment of it whatsoever and readers looked elsewhere for war-related information. In the process, Godey's lost about one-third of its subscribers.[2]

Godey sold the magazine in 1877 before his death in 1878.[10] The magazine ceased publication in 1898.

[edit] Contents

The magazine is best known for the hand-tinted fashion plate that appeared at the start of each issue, which provide a record of the progression of women's dress. Publisher Louis Godey showed off that in 1859, it cost $105,200 to produce the Lady's Book, with the coloring of the fashion-plates costing $8,000.[11] Almost every issue also included an illustration and pattern with measurements for a garment to be sewn at home. A sheet of music for piano provided the latest waltz, polka or galop.

Edgar Allan Poe had one of his earliest short stories "The Visionary" (later renamed "The Assignation") printed in Godey's in 1834. In 1844, he published several other works: "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" (April), "The Oblong Box" (September), and "Thou Art the Man" (November).[12] Other contributors included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Washington Irving, James Kirke Paulding, William Gilmore Simms, and Nathaniel Parker Willis.[10]

[edit] Influence

Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle 1848, adapted for Godey's Lady's Book, December 1850

A woodcut of the British Royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in the Illustrated London News December 1848, was copied in Godey's at Christmas 1850. Their version removed the Queen's crown and Prince Albert's mustache to remake the engraving into an American scene.[13] The republished image was the first widely-circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America, and Art historian Karal Ann Marling called Prince Albert and Queen Victoria shorn of their royal trappings "the first influential American Christmas tree".[14] Folk-culture historian Alfred Shoemaker summed up that "in all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850-60 than Godey's Lady's Book". The image was reprinted in 1860 and, by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in the United States.[13]

As editor, Sarah Hale also used her editorial space and influence to advocate for the establishment of a national Thanksgiving holiday.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pattee, Fred Lewis. The First Century of American Literature: 1770–1870. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1966: 392.
  2. ^ a b Parker, Gail Underwood. More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 32. ISBN 9780762740024
  3. ^ Moss, Sidney P. Poe's Literary Battles: The Critic in the Context of His Literary Milieu. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1962: 23.
  4. ^ Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 239.
  5. ^ Reynolds, David F. "Poe's Art of Transformation: 'The Cask of Amontillado' in Its Cultural Context," as collected in The American Novel: New Essays on Poe's Major Tales, Kenneth Silverman, ed. Cambridge University Press, 1993: 101. ISBN 0521422433
  6. ^ Pattee, Fred Lewis. The First Century of American Literature: 1770–1870. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1966: 495.
  7. ^ Douglas, Ann. The Feminization of American Culture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977: 94. ISBN 0-394-40532-3
  8. ^ O'Connor, Thomas H. Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefield. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997: 8. ISBN 1-55553-318-3
  9. ^ Bradley, Patricia. Women and the Press: The Struggle for Equality. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2005: 30. ISBN 9780810123137
  10. ^ a b Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 231.
  11. ^ Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 232.
  12. ^ Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z. Checkmark Books, 2001.
  13. ^ a b Shoemaker, Alfred Lewis. Christmas in Pennsylvania: a Folk-Cultural Study. Edition 40. Stackpole Books, 1999: 52–53. ISBN 0811703282
  14. ^ Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday. Harvard University Press, 2000: 4. ISBN 0674003187

[edit] External links

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