- The Kaleidoscope
"The Kaleidoscope; or, Literary and Scientific Mirror" was an English weekly published between 1818 and 1831 by the
Liverpool publisherEgerton Smith (1774-1841), who had established the "Liverpool Mercury " in 1811. [Timperley] The magazine's name was taken fromDavid Brewster 's recent invention. [Timperley] The first number appeared onJuly 28 ,1818 infolio form; two years later the publication became an eight-pagequarto . The price was kept at threepence-halfpenny throughout the magazine's history. [Picton. Timperley, however, reports the magazine as initially priced at 3d.]An anonymous writer for the "
British Quarterly Review " suggested that the "Kaleidoscope" was Britain's first cheap weekly miscellany: "It consisted of slight original and selected articles in literature, science and art, and aimed at that happy combination of instruction and amusement which has since been more elaborately developed in still cheaper serials." [ [Anon.] , p. 327] Contributors included William andMary Howitt , and the magazine also inserted the AmericanWashington Irving 's "Sketch Book". [Picton]The last number bore the date
September 6 ,1831 . The magazine was being discontinued, Egerton Smith informed his readers, since the new railways had disrupted road distribution by stage-coach. [ [Anon.] , p. 328]References
* [Anon.] , 'Cheap Literature', "British Quarterly Review" 29 (April 1859), 313-45
*Picton, J. A., 'The "Kaleidoscope," a Liverpool magazine', "Notes and Queries", series 5, XII (1879), p. 32
*Timperley, Charles Henry, "A Dictionary of Printers and Printing", 1839, p. 868External links
*Republished as part of
ProQuest 's [http://pao.chadwyck.co.uk/marketing/journalLists.jsp?collection=PAOcolBP1 British Periodicals Collection I] (subscription only)
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