Athenaeum (magazine)

The "Athenaeum" was a literary magazine published in London from 1828 to 1921. It had a reputation for publishing the very best writers of the age.

Launched in 1828 by James Silk Buckingham, it was sold within a few weeks to Frederick Maurice and John Sterling, but they could not make it profitable. In 1829 Charles Wentworth Dilke became part proprietor and editor. He greatly extended the influence of the magazine. In 1846 he resigned the editorship, and assumed that of the "Daily News", but contributed a series of notable articles to "Athenaeum".

George Darley was a staff critic in the early years, and Gerald Massey contributed many literary reviews - mainly on poetry - during the period 1858-1868. Theodore Watts-Dunton contributed regularly as the principal critic of poetry from 1875 until 1898. Frederic George Stephens was art editor from 1851 until 1901, when he was replaced by Roger Fry because of his unfashionable hatred of Impressionism. Arthur Symons joined the staff in 1891.

In the 19th century, it received contributions from Lord Kelvin. In the early 20th century, its contributors included Max Beerbohm, Edmund Blunden, T. S. Eliot, Robert Graves, Thomas Hardy, Aldous Huxley, Edith Sitwell, Julian Huxley, Katherine Mansfield, and Virginia Woolf.

On other grounds, the magazine's place in the history of sports writing is assured. A letter from J S Cotton, reportedly printed in 1905, definitively tells of the first-ever reference to Cricket in India.

In 1921, with falling circulation, the "Athenaeum" was incorporated into its younger competitor: the "Nation". In 1930, the "Nation" merged with the "New Statesman".

Further reading

*Demoor, Marysa, "Their Fair Share: Women, Power, and Criticism in the Athenaeum, from Millicent Garratt Fawcett to Katharine Mansfield, 1870-1920". Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. ISBN 9780754601180
*Graham, Walter James, 'The Athenaeum', "English Literary Periodicals". New York: T. Nelson, 1930, pp. 317-321.
*Marchand, Leslie A., "The Athenaeum: A Mirror of Victorian Culture". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1941.
*Sullivan, Alvin, ed., 'The Athenaeum', "British Literary Magazines. Vol.3". Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983-, pp. 21-24.

External links

* [http://www.gerald-massey.org.uk/massey/crv_reviews_by.htm A selection of Gerald Massey's literary reviews for the Athenaeum]
* [http://athenaeum.soi.city.ac.uk/athall.html The Athenaeum Projects: Centre for Interactive Systems Research, City University, London] - an index of all literary reviews from 1830-1870 - and all scientific reviews from 1828-1830.
* [http://athenaeum.soi.city.ac.uk/aboutath.html Athenaeum review of ] George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss by Geraldine Jewsbury, (April 7, 1860).