British Magazines

Liz Nice

The world's first “magazine” was published in Britain. The Gentleman's Magazine (or Monthly Intelligencer ), published by Edward Cave in 1731, is widely regarded as the first publication to use the term magazine , a term adapted from the Arabic makhazin , meaning “storehouse,” to denote a periodical miscellany aimed at a general readership. While other British periodicals were issued before that date, such as The Ladies Mercury , founded in 1693, The Tatler (1709), and The Spectator (1711), they were not referred to as magazines and Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language credits Cave with inventing the term. The roots of contemporary British magazines, whose principal tenets are to serve, entertain, and involve their readers while of course making a profit, can be found in these early publications. Not only did the Gentleman's Magazine , which soon sold 10,000 copies a week, make Edward Cave rich, it ...

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