The Late-Victorian Little Magazine by Koenraad Claes (review)

Koenraad Claes's The Late-Victorian Little Magazine provides an insightful overview of where the little magazine genre came from, how it has changed over time, and how different magazines within the category have shifted the genre's direction. According to Claes, the little magazine emerged because avant-garde groups of authors and artists within the Aesthetic Movement desired a means to publish their work while propagating certain ideologies or perceptions.

As Claes puts it, "Little magazines tend to be founded to provide a forum for authors and artists sharing an interest in particular niche themes or styles, which are seen as belonging together through this common heterodoxy" (18). As such, little magazines often related to some form of politics or regional literature because they served as specifically targeted storehouses of information. And the content within little magazines, be it artistic or literary, was often united under some common idea or concept. In fact many publications, most notably the Century Guild Hobby Horse (1884/6–92), were inspired by John Ruskin's "The Nature of the Gothic," which appeared originally in the second volume of The Stones of Venice (1853) where he argues that "'the principle admirableness' of Gothic architecture was that 'out of fragments full of imperfection' it would 'indulgently raise up a stately and unaccusable whole'" (45). In this sense, avant-garde artists and authors could come together in the little magazine with their own fragments and combine them to create a cohesive publication.

Another major characteristic of little magazines is that they were, for the most part, small scale and designed to attract limited audiences. As Claes notes, however, some publications like the Yellow Book (1894–97) were more successful than others at gaining a steadily growing readership (at least, for a few years until Oscar Wilde was arrested and the Yellow Book met its demise shortly thereafter). Claes also notes that these targeted audiences changed as time passed and new little magazines came to light.

In a close analysis of thirteen major little magazines of the Victorian era, Claes shows how their readership strategy (and readership) changed and how these changes reflected certain historical movements or moments. Claes's chosen publications illustrate the potential behind the genre, explain the potential others saw for it, and lay out a clear narrative of the genre's history.

The little magazine evolved drastically, starting with the Germ (1850), which established a format for subsequent little magazines and served as "a first step towards the ideal of the Total Work of Art" (220). Moving on, the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine (1856) added a political dimension to the developing concept. Next, we find the Century Guild Hobby Horse, which "saw the different skills going into [the little magazine's] production as forms of applied art on a par with the fine arts and literature of the contents" (221). The little magazine then evolves to the Dial (1889–97), the Pagan Review (1892), and the Page (1898–1901), which "would function as meticulously coordinated portfolios for close-knit coteries (the Dial) or even individuals (the Pagan Review and the Page) to circulate samples of their talents" (221). Eventually, with publications like the Pageant (1896–97), the Parade (1897) and the Dome (1897–1900)—and even the Yellow Book and the Savoy (1896), albeit less so—the genre gave up elements of its purism and began adapting commercial strategies from other formats. This moved the genre outside of London (with the Evergreen [1895–96] and the Quest [1894–96]) and led others to see the little magazine "as a collective, ostensibly uncompromising Total Work of Art that could carry their message and exemplify their beliefs" (221). But despite this continual evolution, the little magazine has maintained its status as a publication designed to promote the motives and messages of the avant-garde.

Claes also considers how each publication's graphics and typography evolve from previous little magazines, but the argument might have benefited from more...