Good Words
Good Words was a 19th-century monthly periodical in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1860 by Scottish publisher Alexander Strahan.[1] Its first editor was Norman Macleod. After his death in 1872, it was edited by his brother, Donald Macleod,[2] though there is some evidence that the publishing was taken over at this time by W. Isbister & Co.[3]
Vol 1 title page, 1860. | |
Editor | Norman Macleod |
---|---|
Frequency | Monthly |
Year founded | 1860 |
Final issue | 1910 |
Language | English |
Read without sin
Good Words was directed at evangelicals and nonconformists, particularly of the lower middle classes. The magazine included overtly religious material, but also fiction and non-fiction articles on general subjects, including science.[4] The standard for content was that the devout should be able to read it on Sundays without sin.[5] It became known as a "fireside read", which could be shared and enjoyed by adults and children, servants and masters.[6]
Good Words was known for its illustrations, by such artists as John Everett Millais and Arthur Boyd Houghton and engraved by the Brothers Dalziel.[6]
Circulation
In 1863, Norman Macleod wrote that the magazine had a circulation of 70,000.[1] In the following year, it advertised itself as having a monthly circulation of 160,000, although that number is probably exaggerated.[7][8]
In 1906, Good Words was amalgamated with the weekly Sunday Magazine, and published in that format until 1910.[9]
References
- R. H. Super (1990). The Chronicler of Barsetshire: A Life of Anthony Trollope (University of Michigan Press) pp. 150–155.
- Eyre-Todd, George. "Donald Macleod" in Who's Who in Glasgow in 1909. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Collections Princeton University.
- Judith Wittosch Malcolm. "Good Words", The Oxford Reader's Companion to Trollope (R. C. Terry, ed., Oxford University Press, 1999) pp. 219–221.
- James Pope-Hennessy (1978). Anthony Trollope (Phoenix Press paperback ed., 2001) pp. 261–263.
- Simon Cooke, PhD. "Good Words", The Victorian Web. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- Sutherland, John. Untitled review of Patricia Thomas Srebrnik's Alexander Strahan: Victorian Publisher. Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 42, no. 1 (June 1987), pp. 120–126. Available for download via JSTOR. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Gray, Donald. Untitled review of Patricia Thomas Srebrnik's Alexander Strahan: Victorian Publisher. Victorian Studies, vol. 31, no. 1 (Autumn 1987), pp. 141–144. Available for download via JSTOR. Retrieved 1 June 2011
- The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, ed. by George Watson. Cambridge University Press, 1969. Vol. 3, column 1849.