The Literalist was published from 1840 to 1842 at No. 67 South Second Street. James Rees edited the Dramatic Mirror and Literary Companion, August 14, 1841, at No. 15 North Sixth Street.
The Young People's Book (September, 1841-August, 1842) was published at No. 101 Chestnut Street, and was edited by John Frost, professor of history in the Central High School.
It was the Dollar Magazine, commenced January 25, 1843, that offered the prize in June, 1843, for the best story, and, as already related, Edgar Allan Poe entered the lists of fame, and drew the prize in the lottery with the "Gold-Bug." Hawthorne published here, in 1851, "The Unpardonable Sin." The publishers of the Dollar Newspaper were the publishers of the Ledger. When Mr. George W. Childs purchased the Ledger he bought also the Dollar Magazine, and changed its name to the Home Weekly and Household Newspaper.
The Occident and American Jewish Advocate was published monthly by Isaac Leeser from No. 118 South Fourth Street, and was continued from 1843 to 1847.
The Legal Intelligencer began December 2, 1843, and, published weekly from that time to the present, is the oldest law journal in the United States. It was founded by Henry E. Wallace, and has been edited by J. Hubley Ashton, Dallas Sanders and Henry C. Titus.
Miss Eliza Leslie, sister to Charles Robert Leslie, after winning her first literary distinction with her story, "Mrs. Washington Potts," in Godey's Lady's Book, began, with the aid of T. S. Arthur, the publication in January, 1843, of Miss Leslie's Magazine. In the address of "The Publisher to the Public" the new venture is thus introduced and commended: "Miss Leslie's Magazine! There is something in the very name that foretokens a prosperous career. It is a name associated with the pleasantest passages of our current American literature—with the most brilliant triumphs of our most brilliant periodicals. Who does not remember 'Mrs. Washington Potts' and that exquisite tease, 'Old Aunt Quinby,' and the 'Miss Vanlears,' and their pseudo-French gallant; and 'Mrs. Woodbridge,' and her economical mamma, and the thousand other creations of Miss Leslie's admirable pencil; and remembering these, who would not venture to predict that her magazine must be eminently successful? We know that it will be." The first number contained contributions by T. S. Arthur, Mrs. Anna Bache, N. P. Willis, Virginia Murray, John Bouvier, Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, Morton McMichael and Mrs. S. C. Hall.
Again, in February, the publisher advanced before the public with a modest little speech: "We foresaw that our magazine would create a sensation, but we had no idea that it would produce such a commotion as it has done. Everybody is in rapture with it, and the whole town has been crowding to get a peep at it—for, to say the truth, such has been the demand that we could not possibly keep pace with it.... We have already received a larger number of actual subscriptions than were ever before obtained for any periodical in the same period; and we do not hazard anything in predicting that before the expiration of our first year we shall have a greater circulation than any other monthly publication.... And then our contributors are all persons of genuine merit—men and women who write understandingly, and who know how to mingle entertainment with profit. No mawkish sentimentality—no diluted commonplaces—no pompous parade of swollen words—no tumid prosiness can find admission into our columns, for we shall avoid alike the hackneyed author whose reputation takes the place of ability, and the unfledged scribbler whose crudities are utter abominations. We care nothing for mere names, though a good deed is none the worse for coming from a good hand; but the small fry of literature—the lackadaisical geniuses—Heaven bless the mark—who, scum-like, float upon the surface, soiling what they touch and disturbing by their presence what, but for them, might be free from offence—we hold in utter abhorrence."
In Miss Leslie's Magazine for April, 1843, appeared the first specimen of lithotinting that had been attempted in America. It was the work of an artist named Richards, who had seen several productions of Mr. Hullmandel, of London, who had been experimenting in this style.
The first illustrated comic paper on an original plan published in America was the John Donkey. The editors of the paper were G. G. (Gaslight) Foster and Thomas Dunn English. Foster was a reporter on the North American who had written sketches of New York, notably the account of the illuminated clock of the Seward House, and who had been brought to Philadelphia by Morton McMichael. English was born in Philadelphia, June 29, 1819, and in his seventeenth year was a contributor to Philadelphia newspapers. He was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, and after studying law was admitted to the bar in 1842. His famous song, "Ben Bolt" first appeared in the New York Mirror in 1843.
The first illustrated comic paper in America, the Lantern, was started by John Brougham. "This paper," said Foster and English, "professes to be funny. Let us make a paper that professes to be stupid"—and the John Donkey was published monthly by G. B. Zieber at Third and Chestnut Streets, and Zieber and Foster and English shared regularly in the profits. Nearly all the articles were written by English. The artist of the magazine was Felix O. C. Darley; Henry L. Stephens designed many of the prints, and Hinckley was the engraver of the magazine. Barnet Phillips, the author of the Struggle, a journalist born in Philadelphia, November 9, 1828, helped in the composition of the John Donkey. The circulation rose to twelve thousand, when Zieber failed, and Foster went out, and the circulation dropped to three thousand. The first volume was completed in June, 1848, and only a few numbers of the second volume were issued.