In 1860, founder and publisher George Smith hired William Makepeace Thackeray as the first editor to write and critique material for The Cornhill Magazine. Eight other men worked as editors until the last issue appeared in 1900. Thackeray devoted issues to polite, family-oriented entertainment. He once censored a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and terminated a John Ruskin series, both because of content he believed too strong for his family audience.

In the two years that Thackeray served as editor, he published his own first serial novel, Lovel the Widower, as well as his two novels, Denis Duval and The Adventures of Philip. Thackeray also requested that Anthony Trollope provide the magazine’s first serial. Trollope felt so honored by the request that he wrote the fourth Barsetshire novel, Framley Parsonage, for The Cornhill Magazine. Trollope’s novel received a great deal of credit for the magazine’s popularity.

William James Linton’s design of the front of The Cornhill Magazine

By 1870, competition from other publications reduced circulation from 100,000 to 20,000. After 1871, the magazine’s focus altered, and it enjoyed a reputation for high-class literary criticism under the editorial leadership of Sir Leslie Stephen (father of Virginia Stephen Woolf) until 1882. During that time, publication included the early work of Henry James (Washington Square in five parts and The Siege of London in two parts), in addition to writing by Thomas Hardy (Far from the Madding Crowd in seven parts and The Hand of Ethelberta in ten parts).

After Stephen retired in 1882, the magazine carried primarily light fiction, eliminating classical and literary essays. It became an unprofitable venture, but in its last years expanded its focus to include military and nationalistic memoirs, autobiographies, diaries, anniversary studies, and commentary on famous criminal trials. The magazine’s final editor, Reginald Smith, continued to publish serialized novels and returned the form of the literary essay to the publication.

Over its lifetime, The Cornhill Magazine received contributions from many well-known writers. Matthew Arnold published essays, and John Ruskin’s Unto This Last appeared in four parts. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Agnes of Sorrento appeared in thirteen parts, while Arthur Conan Doyle’s popular detective fiction, The White Company, appeared in twelve installments. Additional publications included Joseph Conrad’s The Lagoon; Stephen Crane’s A Self-made Man and God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen; and Bret Harte’s The Rise of the Short Story.

Bibliography
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, Vol. 1. Edited by Walter E. Houghton, Esther Rhoads Houghton, and Jean Slingerland. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989, 321–415.

Categories: British Literature, Literature

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