The End of the Year.—With the present number we bring to a close another year of the publication of Graham’s Magazine. The many improvements which since our last anniversary have been effected in the work, and the extraordinary accessions to our subscription list—between twenty and thirty thousand in twelve months!—impart to us a satisfaction which we trust is shared in some degree by our million readers.
Since the commencement of the present year, Rufus W. Griswold has become associated with the proprietor in the editorship of the Magazine; and to our corps of contributors have been added William C. Bryant and Richard H. Dana, the first American poets, and the equals of any now living in the world; James Fenimore Cooper, the greatest of living novelists; Charles F. Hoffman, one of the most admired poets and prose writers of our country; Elizabeth B. Barrett, the truest female poet who has written in the English language; J. H. Mancur, the author of “Henri Quatre;” George H. Colton, the author of “Tecumseh;” H. T. Tuckerman, the author of “Isabelle, or Sicily,” etc.; the author of “A New Home” and “Forest Life,” who, under the name of “Mary Clavers,” has won a reputation second to that of none of the writers of her sex in America; Mrs. E. F. Ellet, the well known author of “The Characters of Schiller,” etc.; Mrs. Seba Smith, whose elegant and truthful compositions are as universally admired as they are read; and several others, whom we have not now space to mention. All these, with our favorite old writers, Professor Longfellow, George Hill, Edgar A. Poe, Mrs. Embury, Mrs. Stephens, and others, we shall retain for our succeeding volumes.
We shall likewise receive regular contributions during the ensuing year, from N. P. Willis, whose many admirable qualities as a writer have made his name familiar wherever English literature is read; T. C. Grattan, the popular author of “Highways and Byways,” “The Heiress of Bruges,” etc.; “Maria del Occidente,” the author of “Zophiel,” and many others, whose names will from month to month grace our pages.
Let our Past speak for our Future. The improvements made in Graham’s Magazine, in 1842, will be surpassed by those that we shall introduce in 1843. In all the departments of our work we shall remain in advance of every other candidate for the public favor.
The Author of the Sketch Book.—In a notice of the Miscellanies of Sir Walter Scott, in the number of this Magazine for September, we made allusion to reviews of various publications of Mr. Washington Irving, which we had good reason for believing were written by that gentleman himself. We learn with pleasure, from one who speaks on the subject by authority, that Mr. Irving is guiltless of the imputed self laudation. He did indeed write the article in the London Quarterly on his “Chronicles of Grenada,” and received for it the sum we mentioned; but, like so many of the modern “reviews,” it had very little relation to the work which gave it a title, or to its author.
H. Hastings Weld.—We notice that this talented and agreeable writer, formerly editor of the Brother Jonathan, has taken the editorial charge of the United States Saturday Post, a family newspaper of the largest class and circulation. We feel assured that the humor and vivacity of Mr. Weld’s pen will tend to make the paper still more popular, and to add greatly to the already enormous subscription list. This paper already circulates more copies weekly than any other family newspaper in the Union.