Graham's Magazine

"Graham's Magazine" was a nineteenth century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham. It was alternatively referred to as "Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine" (1841-1842, and July 1843 - June 1844), "Graham's Magazine of Literature and Art" (January 1844 - June 1844), "Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art" (July 1848 - June 1856), and "Graham's Illustrated Magazine of Literature, Romance, Art, and Fashion" (July 1856 - 1858). [ [http://www.eapoe.org/WORKS/editions/mgm001.htm "The Casket", and "Graham's Magazine"] at the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore online. Accessed June 11, 2008]

The journal was founded after the merger of "Burton's Gentleman's Magazine" and "Atkinson's Casket" in 1840. Publishing short stories, critical reviews, and music as well as information on fashion, Graham intended the journal to reach all audiences including both men and women. He offered the high payment of $5 per page, successfully attracting some of the best-known writers of the day. It also became known for its engravings and artwork. "Graham's" may have been the first magazine in the United States to copyright each issue.

Edgar Allan Poe became the editor of "Graham's" in February 1841 and soon was publishing the harsh critical reviews for which he became known. It was also where he first published "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", now recognized as the first detective story. After Poe left the journal, his successor was Rufus Wilmot Griswold, a known enemy. "Graham's" later passed on being the first to publish "The Raven". Graham left his magazine for a time in 1848 and it eventually ceased in 1858.

History

In December of 1840, Graham had just acquired "Burton's Gentleman's Magazine" for $3,500, paying a dollar for each of its 3,500 subscribers, [Silverman, Kenneth. "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". Harper Perennial, 1991: 162. ISBN 0060923318] and merged it with another recently-purchased magazine, "Atkinson's Casket", which only had 1500 subscribers.Sova, Dawn B. "Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z". New York: Checkmark Books, 2001: 39. ISBN 081604161X]

Graham intended the magazine to be popular amongst both men and women, containing fashion, photographs, music, short stories and critical reviews. He also hoped to reach out to both mainstream audiences and those with more refined tastes.Pattee, Fred Lewis. "The First Century of American Literature: 1770–1870". New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1966: 498.] Graham was not a writer himself, other than a section at the back of each issue called "Graham's Small Talk", and so relied heavily on contributors.Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 275. ISBN 1932109455] To that end, Graham made sure it was popular amongst writers as a well-paying journal; the $5 standard become known as a "Graham page". [Fisher, Benjamin Franklin. "Poe's 'Metzengerstein': Not a Hoax", "On Poe: The Best from "American Literature". Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993: 142.] Other journals at the time were paying the standard rate of $1 per page. [Tomc, Sandra. "Poe and His Circle," as collected in "The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe," Kevin J. Hayes, ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002: 23. ISBN 0521797276] His attempt at attracting the best contributors worked: Contributors to the magazine included William Cullen Bryant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Russell Lowell, [Harthorn, Steven P. " [http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/articles/suny/2003suny-harthorn.html Cooper's "Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief" as a Defense of Authorship] ". Accessed June 11, 2008] Christopher Pearse Cranch, Fitz-Greene Halleck, George D. Prentice, Alice and Phoebe Cary. [Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 269. ISBN 1932109455]

James Fenimore Cooper was reportedly the highest-paid contributor to "Graham's", receiving $1,600 for the serial "The Islets of the Gulf, or Rose-Budd", later published as "Jack Tier, or The Florida Reefs". He received another $1,000 for a series of biographies on distinguished naval commanders.Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 273. ISBN 1932109455] "Graham's" at one point was advertised as having the most distinctive list of contributors ever achieved by any American magazine. Graham's boasted that many issues of his magazine cost $1,500 for "authorship" alone.Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 274. ISBN 1932109455]

"Graham's" may have been the first magazine in America to copyright each issue. By March 1842, "Graham's Magazine" was issuing 40,000 copies. This boom was reflective of a changing market in American readership. [Silverman, Kenneth: "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". New York: Harper Perennial, 1991: 174. ISBN 0060923318] John Sartain believed its success was due to the appeal of the engravings he provided for each issue.Quinn, Arthur Hobson. "Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography". Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 330. ISBN 0801857309] "The Saturday Evening Post" reported that the August 1841 issue of "Graham's" cost $1,300 for these "embellishments". [Thomas, Dwight & David K. Jackson. "The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849". Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987: 337. ISBN 0816187347] The "Post" reported April 30, 1842: "It is doubtful, if engravings of equal beauty ever adorned an American work". [Thomas, Dwight & David K. Jackson. "The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849". Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987: 364. ISBN 0816187347] Typical engravings in "Graham's" included bridges, happy maids, and scenes which focused on peaceful domestic life and promoted marriage. The editorial staff grew to include "two lady editors", Ann S. Stephens and E. C. Embury.

Poe as editor

Graham hired Edgar Allan Poe as a critic and editor in February 1841 at an annual salary of $800. [Stashower, Daniel. "The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder". New York: Dutton, 2006: 111. ISBN 052594981X] Poe suspended his plans to start his own journal, "The Penn", to work for Graham, who promised to help subsidize Poe's entrepreneurial endeavor within a year, though he never did.Meyers, Jeffrey. "Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy". Cooper Square Press, 1992: 141. ISBN 0815410387] Poe complained about the content of "Graham's"; he particularly disliked "the contemptible pictures, fashion-plates, music and love tales" for which the magazine was known. Graham, however, was aware of Poe's status as an author and critic and knew he would increase the magazine's popularity. He introduced his new editor in the pages of the magazine: "Mr. POE is too well known in the literary world to require a word of commendation." [Silverman, Kenneth: "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". New York: Harper Perennial, 1991: 163. ISBN 0060923318]

Poe had a decent relationship with Graham and took advantage of the editorial control he was granted. The magazine was the first to publish "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "A Descent into the Maelström", "The Island of the Fay" and others. He also reviewed Charles Dickens's "The Old Curiosity Shop", Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Twice-Told Tales", and works by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving and many others. [ [http://www.eapoe.org/WORKS/editions/mgm001c.htm Poe's writings in "The Casket" and Poe's writings in "Graham's Magazine"] at the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore online. Accessed June 11, 2008] He also further built up his reputation as a harsh literary critic, causing James Russell Lowell to suggest Poe sometimes mistook "his phial of prussic acid for his inkstand".Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 282. ISBN 1932109455] With "Graham's", Poe also launched his "Literati of New York" series, which purportedly analyzes the signatures of well-known figures in the New York scene, but which featured Poe taking pot-shots at their personalities. "The Philadelphia Inquirer" in October 1841 called Poe's article "the most singular, and at the same time, the most interesting article" in the magazine. [Thomas, Dwight & David K. Jackson. "The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849". Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987: 345. ISBN 0816187347]

Poe left Graham's employ in April of 1842 but still made occasional contributions. In 1847, he voluntarily took a cut in the usual payment to $4 per page to cover a debt he owed to Graham. [Thomas, Dwight & David K. Jackson. "The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849". Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987: 703–704. ISBN 0816187347]

Though he originally called his salary "liberal," Poe would later complain of his "nambypamby" payment of $800 per year when compared to Graham's alleged $25,000 in profit.Silverman, Kenneth: "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". New York: Harper Perennial, 1991: 216. ISBN 0060923318] A possibly story is that Poe returned to the office in April 1842 after a brief illness to find Charles Peterson, another editor, sitting at his desk and performing his duties. Upset, he impulsively resigned on the spot. [Meyers, Jeffrey. "Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy". New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992: 140. ISBN 0815410387] By then, however, he had already made a significant impact on "Graham's". A year after Poe's departure, Philadelphia editor George Lippard said, "It was Mr. Poe that made Graham's Magazine what "it was" a year ago; it was his intellect that gave this now weak and flimsy periodical a tone of refinement and mental vigor". [Thomas, Dwight & David K. Jackson. "The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849". Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987: 441. ISBN 0816187347]

After Poe

Rufus Wilmot Griswold, a well-known critic and anthologist as well as Poe's greatest rival, took over editing after Poe's departure in April 1842. Griswold was reportedly paid a salary of $1000 a year, $200 more than Poe. As an editor, Griswold had some success, including a contract with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write for "Graham's" exclusively for a time. Longfellow was paid about $50 for each poem printed. "Graham's" was also the first to publish Longfellow's play "The Spanish Student" in 1842; he was paid $150 for it. [Thompson, Lawrance. "Young Longfellow (1807–1843)". New York: The Macmillan Company, 1938: 325–326.] By September 1842, Graham was unhappy with Griswold's work and made an offer for Poe to return, though he refused. Late in 1844 Poe offered first publication of "The Raven" to Graham, who turned it down. Some accounts say Graham may have given $15 to Poe as a friendly charity, but that he did not like the poem. Graham made it up to Poe a short while later by publishing the essay "The Philosophy of Composition" in which Poe tells of his inspiration for his famous poem and the technique of writing well. [Hoffman, Daniel. "Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe". Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972: 79–80. ISBN 0807123218] Joseph Ripley Chandler and Bayard Taylor also had short runs as editorial assistants for the magazine in 1848 and Edwin Percy Whipple was its main literary critic for a time. [Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 283. ISBN 1932109455]

Decline

In 1848, after some financial difficulties caused by poor copper investments, Graham sold the magazine to Samuel Dewee Patterson, though he retained the title of editor.Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 277. ISBN 1932109455] Sartain, whose engravings had become an important part of "Graham's", left to found his own journal, "Sartain's Union Magazine", in 1849. People who sympathized with Graham's difficulties helped him regain some of his fortune and he bought back his interest in the magazine in 1850. Competition with "Harper's New Monthly Magazine" beginning in that year caused significant drops in subscriptions, as did the lack of an international copyright. Charles Godfrey Leland took over when Graham left the magazine in 1853 or 1854 and "Graham's Magazine" ceased publication in 1858. [Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. "The Literary History of Philadelphia". Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 284. ISBN 1932109455]

ee also

Other American journals that Edgar Allan Poe was involved with include:
*""
*"Broadway Journal"
*"Burton's Gentleman's Magazine"
*"Godey's Lady's Book"
*"Southern Literary Messenger"
*"The Stylus"

References

External links

* [http://www.eapoe.org/works/EDITIONS/mgm001.htm "The Casket and Graham's Magazine"] at [http://www.eapoe.org Edgar Allan Poe Society online]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=JngAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Graham%27s+Magazine&client=firefox-a "Graham's Magazine"] at Google Book Search