"The Saturday Magazine" Publishes in Competition with "The Penny Magazine"

On July 7, 1832 The Saturday Magazine, the masthead of which read "Under the Direction of the Committee of General Literature and Education, Appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge" began weekly publication from London at the price of one penny per copy. The timing of this publication and its price would suggest that it was published as a rival to The Penny Magazine published under the auspices of the secular Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In many ways it paralleled the format, liberal use of illustrations, and content of The Penny Magazine with addition of a modest amount of religion in each issue. Clearly the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), which had as its mission, since its founding in 1698, the education from the Christian point of view, of the widest range of people, shared the belief of the secular SDUK that the new mass media was an effective way to educate the masses.

The publisher of The Saturday Magazine, John William Parker, began his career as an apprentice to industrial printer William Clowes, and became manager of the Clowes' pioneering printing machine business. I have not seen circulation information for The Saturday Magazine; nor have I learned whether or not machine presses were employed in its production, but one might assume as much considering the background of its publisher. Beginning in the 5th issue Parker, emphasized at the end of each issue that he had distributors for the magazine in about 20 locations in England. The Saturday Magazine ended its operations on December 28, 1844, roughly one year before The Penny Magazine ended publication.