Godey's Lady's Book

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 that was published in Philadelphia. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil War.[1] Its circulation rose from 70,000 in the 1840s to 150,000 in 1860.[2] In the 1860s Godey's considered itself the "queen of monthlies".

Overview

The magazine was published by Louis A. Godey from Philadelphia for 48 years (1830–1878).[3] Godey intended to take advantage of the popularity of gift books, many of which were marketed specifically to women.[4] 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 was read and contained work by both men and women,[5] Hale published three special issues that 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.[6]

In 1845, Louis Godey began copyrighting each issue of the magazine to prevent other magazine and newspaper editors from infringing 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".[7]

An 1859 fashion plate from Godey's Lady's Book showing crinoline fashions

The magazine was expensive; subscribers paid $3 per year (for comparison, The Saturday Evening Post was only $2 per year).[8] Even so, it was the most popular journal in its day.[9] Under Hale's editorship, the list of subscribers to Godey's reached 150,000.[10] Hale took advantage of her role and became influential as an arbiter of American taste.[11] 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.[12]

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.[13] 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.[6]

Godey sold the magazine in 1877 to John Hill Seyes Haulenbeek [14] before his death in 1878.[15] The magazine ceased publication with the death of Haulenbeek in 1878.[14]

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 boasted that in 1859, it cost $105,200 to produce the Lady's Book, with the coloring of the fashion-plates costing $8,000.[16] 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. He published several other works: "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" (April 1844), "The Oblong Box" (September 1844), and "Thou Art the Man" (November 1844),[17] and "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846). Other contributors included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Washington Irving, James Kirke Paulding, William Gilmore Simms, Nathaniel Parker Willis,[15] and Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Influence

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

Magazine editor Sarah Hale held up Queen Victoria as a role model of feminity, morality and intellect, and Godey's hired Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney to report on the royal activities in London.[18][19] The tradition of a white wedding is commonly credited to Queen Victoria's choice to wear a white wedding dress at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840.[20] With American women following styles or dress set by the young Queen, less than a decade after her wedding Godey’s wrote: “Custom has decided, from the earliest ages, that white is the most fitting hue, whatever may be the material. It is an emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.”[21][22]

A woodcut of the British Royal family with their tree at Windsor Castle was copied in Godey's at Christmas 1850.[23] The engraving was based on an image of Queen Victoria and her decorated Christmas tree previously published in the Illustrated London News in December 1848.[24] The Godey's version removed Victoria's tiara and Prince Albert's mustache to remake the engraving into an American scene.[23] It 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".[25] 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.[23]

As editor, Sarah Hale also used her editorial space and influence to advocate for the establishment of a national Thanksgiving holiday.[26] Hale presented a series of appealing articles in her magazine, featuring descriptions and recipes of food now considered 'typical' of Thanksgiving, such as roasted turkeys, savory stuffing, and pumpkin pies.[27] In 1858, Hale petitioned the president of the United States to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday.[27]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rose, Anne C. (2004). Voices of the Marketplace: American Thought and Culture, 1830–1860. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, p. 75, ISBN 978-0-7425-3262-5.
  2. ↑ Fackler, Mark; Lippy, Charles H. (1995). Popular religious magazines of the United States. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, p. 241, ISBN 978-0-313-28533-2.
  3. ↑ "Magazines in Alphabetical Order". Radcliffe Institute. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  4. ↑ Pattee, Fred Lewis. The First Century of American Literature: 1770–1870. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1966: 392.
  5. ↑ Matthews, Glenna. "Just a Housewife": The Rise and Fall of Domesticity in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. 42–43, ISBN 978-0-19-503859-0.
  6. 1 2 Parker, Gail Underwood. More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 32. ISBN 978-0-7627-4002-4
  7. ↑ Moss, Sidney P. Poe's Literary Battles: The Critic in the Context of His Literary Milieu. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1962: 23.
  8. ↑ Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 239.
  9. ↑ 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 0-521-42243-4
  10. ↑ Pattee, Fred Lewis. The First Century of American Literature: 1770–1870. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1966: 495.
  11. ↑ Douglas, Ann. The Feminization of American Culture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977: 94. ISBN 0-394-40532-3
  12. ↑ O'Connor, Thomas H. Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefield. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997: 8. ISBN 1-55553-318-3
  13. ↑ Bradley, Patricia. Women and the Press: The Struggle for Equality. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2005: 30. ISBN 978-0-8101-2313-7
  14. 1 2 Haulenbeek family history
  15. 1 2 Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 231.
  16. ↑ Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 232.
  17. ↑ Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z. Checkmark Books, 2001.
  18. ↑ Kathleen L. Endres (1995), Women's periodicals in the United States: consumer magazines. p.115. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995
  19. ↑ Blum, Stella (1985) Fashions and costumes from Godey's lady's book. Dover Publications, 1985
  20. ↑ Howard, Vicky (2006). Brides Inc.: American Weddings and the Business of Tradition, p. 157–159. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia
  21. ↑ Queen Victoria was the first to get married in white The Washington Post. Retrieved June 26, 2011
  22. ↑ Susan M. Strawn (2007) Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art. p.23. Voyageur Press, 2007
  23. 1 2 3 Shoemaker, Alfred Lewis. Christmas in Pennsylvania: a Folk-Cultural Study. Edition 40. Stackpole Books, 1999: 52–53. ISBN 0-8117-0328-2
  24. ↑ Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday. p. 244. Harvard University Press, 2000: 4. ISBN 0-674-00318-7
  25. ↑ Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday. Harvard University Press, 2000: 4. ISBN 0-674-00318-7
  26. ↑ "Is it true Thanksgiving was invented by the editor of Harper's Bazaar?". The Straight Dope. 1985-11-29. Retrieved 2012-11-22.
  27. 1 2 http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1127/p13s02-lign.html/%28page%29/2 Christian Science Monitor

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