# The Cornhill Magazine

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English literary magazine, 1860–1975

The Cornhill Magazine Issue for January 1862 Editor William Makepeace Thackeray (1860–1862) Categories Literary magazine Publisher George Murray Smith First issue 1859 Final issue 1975 Company Smith, Elder & Co. John Murray (from 1917) Country United Kingdom Based in London Language English

*[Portrait of Effie Millais](/source/Portrait_of_Effie_Millais)* by [John Everett Millais](/source/John_Everett_Millais), 1873. She is shown holding a copy of *The Cornhill Magazine*

***The Cornhill Magazine*** (1860–1975) was a monthly[1] [Victorian](/source/Victorian_literature) [magazine](/source/Magazine) and [literary journal](/source/Literary_journal) named after the street address of the founding publisher [Smith, Elder & Co.](/source/Smith%2C_Elder_%26_Co.) at 65 [Cornhill](/source/Cornhill%2C_London) in [London](/source/London).[2][3] In the 1860s, under the editorship of [William Makepeace Thackeray](/source/William_Makepeace_Thackeray), the paper's large circulation peaked around 110,000. Due to emerging competitors, circulation fell to 20,000 by 1870. The following year, [Leslie Stephen](/source/Leslie_Stephen) took over as editor. When Stephen left in 1882, circulation had further fallen to 12,000. *The Cornhill* was purchased by [John Murray](/source/John_Murray_(publishing_house)) in 1912, and continued to publish issues until 1975.[1]

## History

*The Cornhill* was founded by [George Murray Smith](/source/George_Murray_Smith) in 1859,[4] and the first issue displayed the cover date January 1860. A literary journal with articles on diverse subjects and serialisations of new [novels](/source/Novel), it continued until 1975. Smith had hoped to gain some of the readership enjoyed by *[All the Year Round](/source/All_the_Year_Round)*, a similar magazine owned by [Charles Dickens](/source/Charles_Dickens); toward this end, he employed as editor William Thackeray,[2][5] Dickens's great literary rival at the time. Subsequent editors included [G. H. Lewes](/source/G._H._Lewes), [Leslie Stephen](/source/Leslie_Stephen), [Ronald Gorell Barnes](/source/Ronald_Barnes%2C_3rd_Baron_Gorell), [James Payn](/source/James_Payn), [Peter Quennell](/source/Peter_Quennell) and [Leonard Huxley](/source/Leonard_Huxley_(writer)).

The magazine was initially successful, selling more issues than expected, but within a few years circulation dropped rapidly as it failed to keep pace with changes in popular taste. It also gained a reputation for rather safe, inoffensive content in the late [Victorian era](/source/Victorian_era).[2] A mark of the high regard in which it had been held was its publication of *Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands* by [Queen Victoria](/source/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom). Stories were often illustrated by pre-eminent artists of the time, including [George du Maurier](/source/George_du_Maurier), [Edwin Landseer](/source/Edwin_Landseer), [Frederic Leighton](/source/Frederic_Leighton) and [John Everett Millais](/source/John_Everett_Millais).

From 1917 the magazine was published by [John Murray](/source/John_Murray_(publishing_house)) of [Albemarle Street](/source/Albemarle_Street), London.[1] Contributors to *The Cornhill* in the 1930s and 1940s included [Elizabeth Bowen](/source/Elizabeth_Bowen), [Rose Macaulay](/source/Rose_Macaulay), [Mary Webb](/source/Mary_Webb), [D. K. Broster](/source/D._K._Broster) and [Nugent Barker](/source/Nugent_Barker).[6]

Detail from issue for January 1862

## Notable works published

Important works serialised in the magazine include the following:

- *[Framley Parsonage](/source/Framley_Parsonage)* by [Anthony Trollope](/source/Anthony_Trollope)

- *[Wives and Daughters](/source/Wives_and_Daughters)* by [Elizabeth Gaskell](/source/Elizabeth_Gaskell)

- *[The White Company](/source/The_White_Company)* and *[J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement](/source/J._Habakuk_Jephson's_Statement)* by [Arthur Conan Doyle](/source/Arthur_Conan_Doyle)

- *[Tithonus](/source/Tithonus)* by [Alfred Tennyson](/source/Alfred_Tennyson)

- *[Washington Square](/source/Washington_Square_(novel))* by [Henry James](/source/Henry_James)

- *[Culture and Anarchy](/source/Culture_and_Anarchy)* by [Matthew Arnold](/source/Matthew_Arnold)

- *[Romola](/source/Romola)* by [George Eliot](/source/George_Eliot)

- "[The Lagoon](/source/The_Lagoon)" by [Joseph Conrad](/source/Joseph_Conrad)

- *[Far from the Madding Crowd](/source/Far_from_the_Madding_Crowd)* by [Thomas Hardy](/source/Thomas_Hardy)

- *[Unto This Last](/source/Unto_This_Last)* by [John Ruskin](/source/John_Ruskin)

- *[Armadale](/source/Armadale_(novel))* by [Wilkie Collins](/source/Wilkie_Collins)

- *[Emma](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Emma_(Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB))* (Posthumous Fragment) by [Charlotte Brontë](/source/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB)

- *[Daisy Miller](/source/Daisy_Miller)* by [Henry James](/source/Henry_James)

## Archives

A list of issues of the magazine available for viewing online is provided by John Mark Ockerbloom through a webserver of the University of Pennsylvania: [https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=cornhill](https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=cornhill)

There are transcriptions of many issues available on [Project Gutenberg.](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=cornhill+magazine&submit_search=Go!)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_1-2) ["The Cornhill Magazine—The John Murray Archive—National Library of Scotland"](https://digital.nls.uk/jma/topics/publishing/cornhill.html). *digital.nls.uk*. Retrieved 19 May 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-doncj_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-doncj_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-doncj_2-2) Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, *Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland*. Ghent: Academia Press and London: British Library, 2009. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [071235039X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/071235039X) (p. 145).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-schmidt_3-0)** Schmidt, Barbara Quinn (Fall 1999). "Introduction: *The Cornhill Magazine*: Celebrating Success". *Victorian Periodicals Review*. **32** (3): 202–208. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [20083681](https://www.jstor.org/stable/20083681).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Princeton2008_4-0)** ["Business Correspondence of Smith, Elder, and Co., 1850–1908: Finding Aid"](http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/3r074v012). Princeton University Library. 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2012. Abstract. Consists, for the most part, of business correspondence of George Smith relating to *The Cornhill Magazine*, which he founded in 1859, and other publishing business of Smith, Elder, and Co., the London publishing firm.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Eddy, Spencer L. (1970). ["The Founding of The Cornhill Magazine"](https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/BSMngrph/id/10). *Ball State University*. Retrieved 19 May 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Jack Adrian, "Introduction" to *The Ash-Tree Press Annual Macabre 2003: Ghosts at 'The Cornhill' 1931–1939* [Ash-Tree Press](/source/Ash-Tree_Press), 2003, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-55310-060-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55310-060-7).

## Further reading

[William James Linton](/source/William_James_Linton)'s design of the front of *The Cornhill Magazine*, this copy from December 1945.

- *The Cornhill Magazine*. [v.5](https://books.google.com/books?id=G2MJAAAAQAAJ) (1862); [v.8](https://books.google.com/books?id=ymMJAAAAQAAJ) (1863); [v.11](https://books.google.com/books?id=NWQJAAAAQAAJ) (1865); [v.19](https://books.google.com/books?id=GzIFAAAAQAAJ) (1869); [v.25](https://books.google.com/books?id=uuoLAQAAIAAJ) (1872); [v.35](https://books.google.com/books?id=kbUCAAAAIAAJ) (1877).

- Cooke, Simon. *Illustrated Periodicals of the 1860s*. Pinner, Middlesex: [Private Libraries Association](/source/Private_Libraries_Association), 2010 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-58456-275-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-58456-275-7).

- Maunder, A. (2006). "UH Research Archive. 'Discourses of Distinction' the reception of The Cornhill Magazine 1859-60" (Document). University of Hertfordshire. [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[2299/2269](https://hdl.handle.net/2299%2F2269). Citation: Maunder, A 1999, ' "Discourses of Distinction": the reception of *The Cornhill Magazine* 1859-60', *Victorian Periodicals Review*, vol 32, no. 3, pp. 239–59. Files in This Item: File: 901212.pdf Size: 6.66 MB Format: Adobe PDF

- [Ockerbloom, J. M.](/source/John_Mark_Ockerbloom) ["Serial archive listings for The Cornhill Magazine"](http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=cornhill). *The Online Books Page*. [University of Pennsylvania](/source/University_of_Pennsylvania). Retrieved 16 August 2016.

## External links

- Media related to [*The Cornhill Magazine*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Cornhill_Magazine) at Wikimedia Commons

- [Issues available on Project Gutenberg](https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=cornhill+magazine+Vol&submit_search=Go%21)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Cornhill Magazine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cornhill_Magazine) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cornhill_Magazine?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.