{{italic title}} {{For|the newspaper published in New York|George Washington Dixon}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
'''''The Polyanthos''''' was a monthly literary magazine published in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], by [[Joseph T. Buckingham|Joseph Tinker Buckingham]] from December 1805 – September 1814.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Heather A. Haveman|title=Antebellum literary culture and the evolution of American magazines|journal=Poetics|volume=32|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222571293|accessdate=20 November 2015}}</ref>
== The magazine ==
The magazine was founded in 1805 by Joseph Tinker Buckingham and featured a large number of contributors of essays, biographical articles and other literature, such as Wilkes Allen, Rev. John Eliot (of New North Church), John Lathrop, Jr., Samuel Louder, John Lovering, John Randall, Solomon Stoddard, [[Royall Tyler]], Samuel A. Wells, and Rufus Wyman.<ref name=buckingham1852>{{cite book |author=Joseph Tinker Buckingham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AFlRllIfWoC |title=Personal Memoirs and Recollections of Editorial Life |volume= 1 |location=Boston |publisher= [[Ticknor, Reed & Fields]] |year=1852 |page= 53+ |isbn = 9781404780514}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Frank Luther Mott |author-link=Frank Luther Mott |title= A History of American Magazines, Volume I, 1741-1850 |isbn=0196264316 |publisher= Harvard University Press |year= 1930 }}</ref> Buckingham also wrote theatre reviews in each issue.
Buckingham had very strong views on nationalism and "against anything he felt to be false," and these view were reflected in the magazine.<ref>''A History and Bibliography of American Magazines, 1810-1820'' by Neal L. Edgar, Scarecrow Press 1975, page 21.</ref> The first issue of ''The Polyanthos'' featured a biography of Samuel Harris, a review of the poem "Monody on the Victims and Sufferers by the Late Conflagration in Richmond, Virginia," a long essay on the alphabet, and "eleven paragraph-length bits which Buckingham apparently wished known as essays."<ref>''A History and Bibliography of American Magazines, 1810-1820'' by Neal L. Edgar, Scarecrow Press 1975, pages 29-30.</ref>
''The Polyanthos'' gave special attention to the theater,<ref name="Intro">''An Introduction to American Magazines, 1800-1810'' by Benjamin Morgan Lewis, University of Michigan Issue 5, 1961, page 4.</ref><ref>''A History of American Magazines: 1741-1850'' by Frank Luther Mott, Harvard University Press, 1938, page 167.</ref> with the magazine called "a journal of no small literary merit for that day, and which devoted particular attention to the New England stage.<ref>German literature in American Magazines Prior to 1846 by Scott Holland Goodnight, Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin no. 188, 1905, page 36.</ref> The theatrical notes in ''The Polyanthos'' are considered among the most valuable of that period.<ref name="HistoryMags">''A History of American Magazines: 1741-1850'' by Frank Luther Mott, Harvard University Press, 1938, page 169.</ref>
Most issues featured "excellent portraits"<ref name="Intro"/> and engravings, such as a portrait by Samuel Harris (ca.1784-1810)<ref>Other engravings appeared by Henry Williams, Edwin (of Philadelphia) and Snyder (of New York). Cf. Buckingham. 1852; p.55-56.</ref> or a [[Sheet music|song]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Buckingham's Musical Commentaries in Boston |author= Nicholas Tawa |journal= [[The New England Quarterly]] |volume= 51 |year= 1978 |issue= 3 |pages= 333–347 |doi= 10.2307/364612 |jstor=364612 }}</ref> The magazine ceased in 1814 "for the ungrateful or undiscerning public, — notwithstanding the expressed flattery of their taste and confidence in their liberality, — suffered it to wither and die."<ref name=buckingham1852 />
== Connection with Edgar Allan Poe ==
In 1807 ''Polyanthos'' was involved in an incident with American actor [[David Poe Jr.]] and [[England|English]]-born actress [[Eliza Poe|Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe]], the parents of [[Edgar Allan Poe]].<ref>''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography'' by Arthur Hobson Quinn, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997 age xliii.</ref><ref name="HistoryMags"/>
Initially Buckingham was supportive of the Poes in his magazine,<ref name="HistoryMags"/> but later critiqued the actors by writing that "Mrs. Poe was a green Little Pickle. We never knew before that the Spoiled Child belonged to that class of being termed hermaphroditical, as the uncouthness of his costume seemed to indicate."<ref name="Poe">''The Brief Career of Eliza Poe'' by Geddeth Smith, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1988, pages 90-91.</ref><ref name="HistoryMags"/> Buckingham also attacked David Poe Jr., saying "Of Mr. Poe's Barnwell we expected little satisfaction, and of course were not disappointed."<ref name="Poe"/>
David Poe Jr. was enraged at the comments<ref name="HistoryMags"/> and confronted Buckingham.<ref name="Poe"/> In Buckingham's memoirs, he noted how the actor "Mr. Poe — the father of ... [[Edgar Allan Poe|Edgar A. Poe]], — took offence at a remark (in the magazine) on [[Eliza Poe|his wife]]'s acting, and called at my house to 'chastise my impertinence,' but went away without effecting his purpose. Both he and his wife were performers of considerable merit, but somewhat vain of their personal accomplishments."<ref>Cf. Buckingham. 1852; p.57.</ref>
According to a 1931 issue of ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'', this incident alone "merits at least footnote immortality" for the magazine.<ref>''[[Publishers Weekly|The Publishers Weekly]]'', volume 119, part 1, page 317, 1931.</ref>
==Images== ;Published in ''Polyanthos'' <gallery mode=packed heights="140px"> Image:1805 Polyanthos no1.png|''Polyanthos'' no.1, December 1805; published by J.T. Buckingham, [[Winter Street (Boston)|Winter Street]], Boston Image:1806 JohnBernard Polyanthus.png|Actor John Bernard, 1806 Image:1812 Madness Penrose Polyanthos April.png|Illustration to Thomas Penrose's "Ode to Madness," 1812 File:1812 Pawtucket Bridge and Falls in Polyanthos v1 no15.png|[[Pawtucket Falls (Rhode Island)|Pawtucket Falls]], Rhode Island, 1812<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Industrial Landscape in America, 1800-1840: Ideology into Art |author= Jadviga M. da Costa Nunes |journal= [[IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology]] |volume= 12 |year=1986 |issue= 2 |pages= 19–38 |jstor=40968108 }}</ref> Image:1813 CharlesStreetMeetingHouse Boston Polyanthus.png|[[Charles Street Meeting House]], Boston, 1813<ref>{{cite web |url=http://catalog.bostonathenaeum.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=413985 |work=Polyanthos |title=Third Baptist Meeting House in Charles Street |author=James Kidder |date=November 1813 |accessdate=July 31, 2013 }}</ref> Image:1814 Polyanthos.png|''The Polyanthos'' new series v.4, 1814 Image:1814 JohnPhillips Polyanthos.png|[[John Phillips (educator)|John Phillips]], 1814 Image:1814 DavidRittenhouse Polyanthos.png|[[David Rittenhouse]], 1814 Image:1814 WilliamIngalls MD Polyanthos.png|William Ingalls M.D., 1814 Image:1814 IsaacHull Polyanthos.png|[[Isaac Hull]], 1814 </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==Further reading== {{commons category|Polyanthos (Boston)}} * {{citation |title=Polyanthos |oclc=3938088 |location=Boston |year=1805–1814 |publisher=J.T. Buckingham }} [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433081659108 v.1] (1805-1806); [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433081659090 v.2] (1806); [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433081659124 v.3]; [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433081659116 v.4] (1806-1807); new series [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.32000000716243 v.1] (1812); [https://books.google.com/books?id=DFEAAAAAYAAJ v.2] (June–September 1812); [https://books.google.com/books?id=I7oRAAAAYAAJ v.3] (October 1813-March 1814); [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVQAAAAAYAAJ v.4] (April–September 1814).
[[Category:19th century in Boston]] [[Category:1810s in the United States]] [[Category:1800s in the United States]] [[Category:1805 establishments in Massachusetts]] [[Category:1814 disestablishments in Massachusetts]] [[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Cultural history of Boston]] [[Category:Defunct literary magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Magazines established in 1805]] [[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1814]] [[Category:Magazines published in Boston]]