Histories for the Many: The Victorian Family Magazine and Popular Representations of the Past. The "Leisure Hour", 1852-1870

by Doris Lechner

Overview

Histories for the Many examines the contribution of illustrated family magazines to Victorian historical culture. How, by whom, for whom and with which intentions was history used within this popular medium? How were class, gender, age, religion, and space debated? How were academic and popular approaches to the past linked to the materiality of the medium? The focus is set on the evangelical Leisure Hour with comparisons to the London Journal, Good Words and Cornhill. The study's approach to the serialisation of history in text and image combines periodical studies and book history with concepts from cultural studies, sociology as well as narratology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783837637113
Publication date:	07/11/2017
Series:	History in Popular Cultures
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.86(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Doris Lechner is research officer at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and co-founder of the Book History and Print Culture Network (D-A-CH).

Table of Contents

List of Tables 7

List of Illustrations 9

Acknowledgements 11

1 The Victorian Family Magazine and Historical Culture 13

Introduction 13

Serialised History in the Leisure Hour, 1852-1860 24

Structure of the Study 29

Theoretical and Methodological Approaches 31

Part I The Leisure Hour in the Periodical Marketplace

2 The Leisure Hour and the Disputed Genre of the Family Magazine in the 1850s and 1860s 45

First and Second Generation Family Magazines 46

Debates on Reading Matter and the Popular Press 48

»A New Weekly Magazines«: The Leisure Hour as Intermediary 51

New Illustrated Magazines and Changes in the Periodical Market 61

3 History for the Working Man: The Leisure Hour and the London Journal, 1852 71

Overview 72

Leisure Hour 77

London Journal 87

4 Images of History: The Leisure Hour, Good Words and the Cornhill Magazine, 1860 99

Overview 102

Leisure Hour 108

Good Words 122

Cornhill Magazine 128

Part II Serialising History in the Leisure Hour

5 Serialising History into and out of the Leisure Hour: The Periodical and Book Transfer 139

Non-Fiction Series on the Past in the Leisure Hour and their Book Counterparts 143

Case Studies (1): From Book to Periodical 152

Case Studies (2): Monthly Parts 162

6 Writing History for the Family Audience: Between Popular and Academic 179

Writing on the Past for the Leisure Hour: The Contributors 180

John Stoughton: Between Popular and Academic History 185

Writing History for the Family Audience: »Shades of the Departed in Old London« 192

Continuation, Variation and Negation of Stougnton's Narrative Pattern 209

7 Conclusion 221

Appendix

Appendix A Tables 227

Appendix B Excursus - Fictional Series on the Past and Their Book Counterparts 279

Appendix C Contributors on the Past in the Leisure Hour (1852-1870) 283

References 293

Index 331

Editorial Reviews

"An innovative study into an intriguing yet underexplored aspect of nineteenth-century journalism."

Samuel Saunders

"Lechners book is a welcome contribution to nascent discussions of the working-class periodical."

Jennifer Phegley

"The main value of [the] book is as an empirical case study, demonstrating the large quantity and complex nature of historical writing in popular Victorian magazines, well as the men and women who wrote such material. She presents a convincing case for the inclusion of popular family magazines in the historiography of the nineteenth century."

Andrew Hobbs