Quality of paper Issue 1 = thin, almost translucent stock
Issue 2 = thicker, less glossy stock. Akin to that of art quarterlies although not as thick as ‘little’ magazines like Form.
Majority of magazine printed on standard coated stock. Serial printed on glossier paper in tan brown colour (ex-war stock?).
Binding Issue 1 = stapled Issue 2 = bound
Uncertain: reproduced in bound edition.
Length of volume Issue 1 = 12pp Issue 2 = 98pp
Average 85pp (between 85 and 90 pages)
Size Issue 1 = 37.5 x 25 cm
Issue 2 = 24.95 x 18.6 cm (compact quarto)
23.5 x 16.4 cm (Standard) Same dimensions as The Strand
GENERAL
Frequency Irregular Monthly
Price Issue 1 = 1s. 6d. Issue 2 = 2s. 6d.
January 1921 = 1s. (price increase that issue from 9d. the issue before. Same price as the Strand)
ADVERTISEMENTS
Number of ads Issue 1 = 0 Issue 2 = 15pp
Uncertain because adverts removed in bound copy, but 14-18pp per issue, judging by Ashley estimation (100/104pp) and pages numbered in bound edition (86-90pp)
Specific advertisers Mansard Gallery, John Rodker, The Casanova Society, Rowley Gallery, J. & W. Chester, Ltd., Richard Jaschke, Hôtel-Restaurant de la Tour Eiffel, E. C. M. S., Rigolo Hats, The Doll’s House Antiques, L’Esprit Nouveau (in French), The Poetry Bookshop, L’Amour de L’Art (in French), De Stijl, Goodwin & Tabb, Ltd.
Difficulty to identify all as majority of adverts removed in bound copy. Remaining adverts from Jan 1921: Venus Pencils, Riley’s Home Billiard Tables, Turnwright’s Toffee De-light, Beecham’s Pills, Boots Baby Skin Soap, Nestle’s Milk. Other indicative publishers from period include Bird’s Custard, Vaseline, Oak Tree Underwear, Player's Cut Cigarettes, Wright's Coal Tar Soap, Clemark Safety Razor.
Types of adverts Arts/literature: literary/art/music/limited edition booksellers; literary and artistic periodicals; foreign booksellers/periodicals (sometimes in French); art galleries Homewares: Artisan arts and crafts; antique shops
Personal: restaurants; engravers; outfitters
Personal: toiletries; foodstuffs; medicines; clothing; cigarettes Homewares: stationery; leisure activities
Size of adverts Mix of full page (Goodwin & Tabb, Ltd.; Rowley Gallery), half page and quarter page
Of those extant, predominately full page, but with some in-text half page (contents and page after contents)
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Distribution of adverts 11 before contents; 4 at back (plus back cover) Mix of front and back – some before contents, some at back
Design of adverts Predominately text-based in serif typeface with mix of bold, underline, italics, spacing and capitals for visual interest. Some exceptions: Mansard Gallery features pen drawing as header; Rowley Gallery features large central woodcut.
Mix of text and illustration, usually line drawing. More striking visual style akin to advertising posters. Some photographs and paintings also used. Fairly traditional, homely visual style but bold graphics and typography and plenty of white space.
Colour/monochrome Monochrome Monochrome in-text (before/after contents); colour at front and back of magazine & back cover
DESIGN
Cover design Issue 1 = monochrome, dominated by the grotesque grinning figure of the tyro. Black and white, could be woodcut or drawing. Block caps sans serif writing akin to that used in Blast, although paper title in a slim serif. Plenty of white space.
Issue 2 = looks more like that of a ‘regular’ magazine. Less dominated by but still features an image of tyro – this time so close that it could be an abstraction. Brim of hat exceeds borders of image. Neater, more geometric, more balanced cover (helped by dimensions). More individual sense of identity, less influenced by Blast. Unusual Mackintosh-inspired slim sans serif font.
Jan 1921 = full colour. Dominated by reproduced painting of a young woman which takes up bottom two thirds. Demure, perhaps coquettish figure gazing into distance, painted in a popular
impressionistic style. Palette of red, peach and blue: red hair matches red dress, blue background matches blue ribbon on cap and blue bangle. Frilly attire. Looks like an artist’s model. Red from painting reflected in bold red masthead. Bold almost sans serif text for name of paper and description of contents. Mix of typefaces, also a more romantic script and a simple italic serif.
General comments = this cover relatively conservative compared to issues from later 1921; more colourful & masthead removed in favour of full-page primary-colour background on which magazine title is printed. Covers always feature similar modern young women, sometimes romantic, sometimes more forthright. Always made up, especially with red lips. Often with bobbed or short hair. Red recurring colour of magazine either featured in background, masthead or title. Palette of primary colours: red, blue, white, yellow.
Cover designer Wyndham Lewis – untitled image of a tyro Painting by H. H. Harris
Text on cover Issue 1 = title of magazine, description, editor, frequency, publisher, price, printer
Issue 2 = title, description, price, publisher, number of volume. Price given much more proximity than in first issue. Name of editor dropped from cover.
Jan 1921 = paper title, lead contents (name of author), price, month.
Back cover Issue 1 = no back cover.
Issue 2 = full page ad for ‘New Works by Arthur Bliss’ from
Jan 1921 = full page ad for Nestle’s Milk. Simple, painterly style dominated by impressionistic painting of healthy young woman in
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Goodwin & Tabb, Ltd. Dour, text-based advertisement with traditional serif typeface, mix of italics and capitals.
long white dress, hat and cloak holding a new-born baby. Bold use of serif type. Simple, subdued palette of blue and white. Matches graphic style of magazine – possibility that advert was designed specifically for the Royal (adverts from this time used in the Strand, for instance, differ in visual style).
Page layout Issue 1 = two columns (except introductory note), very large headings, two full-page drawings, four half-page reproductions, slim margins
Issue 2 = single column, large margins, same relatively heavy serif typeface used for headings and text (and headings much smaller), one line drawing interspersed into text, large section of full-page reproductions at the back (18pp). Reads more like a book or a catalogue.
Jan 1921 = predominately written in two columns, except editor’s note. Illustrated with pen and ink drawings throughout, especially the Cap and Bells section which is heavily illustrated. Simple, serif typeface. Large titles in same typeface.
Page headings No headings. Left: title of magazine. Right: title of feature
(as opposed to other magazines such as Nash’s/Pall Mall Magazine and the Grand which featured title of magazine / name of author instead, or the Strand which featured title of feature / name of author).
ILLUSTRATIONS
Colour/monochrome Monochrome Monochrome (some colour in Christmas issues)
Type
(photo/drawing/painting)
One drawing, otherwise reproductions of art works (woodcuts, photographs of sculptures, paintings)
Photographs for illustrated interviews, otherwise drawings (pen- and-ink or wash)
Method of reproduction Engraving Engraving
Distribution One drawing with text, otherwise all reproductions in a separate section at back, all single full-page image on a double-page spread
Interspersed with text. Stories: generally one image per double-page spread, except serials which feature no images (printed on different paper & with smaller type). Cap and Bells feature: very heavily illustrated, with several images per page. Occasional poetry or general interest features: one image per page.
Artistic style Modernist, avant-garde, abstract (predominately Vorticist or cubist)
Traditional and realist. Mix of styles from the painterly to cartoons. Some more modern, akin to contemporary fashion illustrations. Generally romantic, sentimental, or comedic.
Artists/illustrators Drawings: Cedric Morris
Reproductions: Jessica Dismorr, Jacques Lipschitz, Wyndham Lewis (6), Frank Dobson (2), Frederick Etchells (3), Edward
This issue: W. Hatherell, Neale Ordayne, John Campbell, A. Gilbert, Gladys Peto, E. Verpilleux, Howard E. Elcock, Treyer Evans, Helen McKie
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Wadsworth (5, including 2 half page). Artists identified only by surname.
Other regular illustrators from period: Dolly Tree, A. K. Macdonald