The Knickerbocker

"The Knickerbocker", or "New-York Monthly Magazine", was a literary magazine of New York City, founded by Charles Fenno Hoffman in 1833, and published until 1865 under various titles, including "The Knickerbocker" from January through June 1833, "The Knickerbocker, or, New-York monthly magazine", from 1833 through 1862, "The Knickerbocker monthly: a national magazine", from 1863 through February,1864, "The American monthly knickerbocker", from March through December 1864, "The American monthly", from January through June 1865, and "The Fœderal American monthly" from July through October, 1865. Its long-term editor was Lewis Gaylord Clark, whose "Editor's Table" column was a staple of the magazine.

History

Hoffman, along with fellow members of the Eucleian Society, was the founding editor of "The Knickerbocker" in 1833, though he helmed only three issues. [Pattee, Fred Lewis. "The First Century of American Literature: 1770–1870". New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1966: 493] Clark bought the magazine in April 1834 and served as editor until 1861. [Miller, Perry. "The Raven and the Whale: The War of Words and Wits in the Era of Poe and Melville". New York: Harvest Book, 1956: 11–12.] By 1840, "The Knickerbocker" was the most influential literary publication of its time. [Miller, Perry. "The Raven and the Whale: The War of Words and Wits in the Era of Poe and Melville". New York: Harvest Book, 1956: 12.] The year before, Washington Irving had reluctantly joined the staff at a salary of $2,000 a year and would stay on staff until 1841. [Miller, Perry. "The Raven and the Whale: The War of Words and Wits in the Era of Poe and Melville". New York: Harvest Book, 1956: 13.]

The circle of writers who contributed to the magazine and populated its cultural milieu are often known as the "Knickerbocker writers" or the "Knickerbocker group". The group included such authors as William Cullen Bryant, James Kirke Paulding, Gulian Verplanck, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Joseph Rodman Drake, Robert Charles Sands, Lydia M. Child, Nathaniel Parker Willis, and Epes Sargent. [Nelson, Randy F. "The Almanac of American Letters". Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 30. ISBN 086576008X] Other writers associated with the group include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor, George William Curtis, Richard Henry Stoddard, Elizabeth Clementine Stedman, John Greenleaf Whittier, Horace Greeley, James Fenimore Cooper, Fitz Hugh Ludlow and Frederick Swartwout Cozzens. "The Knickerbocker" was one of the earliest publications of its type to pay its contributing writers. [Callow, James T. "Kindred Spirits: Knickerbocker Writers and American Artists, 1807–1855". Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1967: 104.]

Content

"The Knickerbocker" was devoted to the fine arts in particular with occasional news and editorials. Full-length biographical sketches were also printed on such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Hiram Powers, Horatio Greenough, and Frederick Styles Agate. [Callow, James T. "Kindred Spirits: Knickerbocker Writers and American Artists, 1807–1855". Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1967: 102.]

"The Knickerbocker" printed the earliest-known reference to the joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?" ["The Knickerbocker, or The New York Monthly". March 1847: 283.]

Further reading

* Spivey, Herman Everette. "The "Knickerbocker Magazine", 1833-1865: A Study of its History, Contents, and Significance." Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina, 1936.
* Mott, Frank Luther. "A History of American Magazines, volume 1 (1741-1850)". Harvard University Press/Belknap, 1930. ISBN 0-674-39550-6.

References