The Canadian Magazine of Politics, Science, Art and Literature was the premiere monthly literary journal of Anglophone Canada for three decades.

History and profile

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Edited first by James Gordon Mowat then by John Alexander Cooper, the first issue was printed in 1893.[1] Its president was James Colebrooke Patterson, concurrently federal Minister of Militia and Defence, while one of its vice-presidents was Thomas Ballantyne, then Speaker of the Ontario legislature.[1] It was meant to compete with the American offerings of Scribner's and Harper's, and was similarly priced, but focused on "cultivating Canadian patriotism and Canadian interests."[1] In 1897, the Magazine purchased Massey's Magazine thereby doubling its subscription.[1] Advertisers were railway companies, banks, insurance companies, schools and colleges, brand-name dry goods and liquor producers.[1] Eventually, its publisher would compete against the print cartel run by Hugh Cameron MacLean and William Southam.[1] It reached a circulation of 30,000 subscribers in 1922.[1] In 1925 the circulation of the magazine was 12,604 copies.[2]

The journal featured writers including Stephen Leacock, George Monro Grant, Kate Eva Westlake[3] and Goldwin Smith. Samuel Simonski reported from the front of the Boer War,[4] while John Joseph Mackenzie wrote a layman's guide to bacteria and James Wilberforce Longley wrote articles on Nova Scotian orchards.[1]

Canadian Magazine ended publication in 1938.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h biographi.ca: "Best, Thomas Henry"
  2. ^ Mary Vipond (March 1977). "Canadian Nationalism and the Plight of Canadian Magazines in the 1920s". The Canadian Historical Review. 58 (1). Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  3. ^ Jerry Don Vann; Rosemary T. VanArsdel (1996). Periodicals of Queen Victoria's Empire: An Exploration. University of Toronto Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8020-0810-7.
  4. ^ nytimes.com: Obituary for "Samuel Simonski", 15 Jan 1948
  5. ^ Ronald Haycock (1 June 1974). Image of the Indian. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-55458-696-7. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
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