MAGAZINE NOTES.
MRS. HUMPHRY WARD—DR. JOWETT.
The late Dr. Jowett is reported to have once said to Mrs. Humphry Ward: "We shall come in the future to teach almost entirely by biography. We shall begin with the life that is most familiar to us, 'The Life of Christ,' and we shall more and more put before our children the great examples of persons' lives so that they shall have from the beginning heroes and friends in their thoughts."
The editors of this magazine thoroughly agree with Dr. Jowett. It has been, for a long time, their great desire to publish in these pages a "Life of Christ" which shall be, to quote Mr. Hall Caine's words in the December MCCLURE'S, "as vivid and as personal from the standpoint of belief as Renan's was from the standpoint of unbelief."
THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND.
It is hard to realize the meaning of these figures, which represent the present circulation of MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE. Three years ago five magazines—"The Century," "Harper's," "Scribner's," "The Cosmopolitan," and "Munsey's"—apparently occupied the whole magazine field. But their total circulation was not over five hundred thousand copies. The circulation of MCCLURE'S is now equal to three-fifths of the combined circulation of all its rivals at the time it started.
"Harper's Magazine" and "The Century" for many years supplied the need of the American people for great illustrated monthlies. One imagines that every intelligent family in the United States takes one or the other, or both, of these magazines. "Harper's" is over half a century old, and "The Century" has just completed twenty-five years of splendid life.
MCCLURE'S has a circulation equal to both these giants of the magazine world.
We mention these facts, not for the mere sake of comparison, but simply to enable our friends to understand what a circulation of three hundred thousand means.
And while we are speaking about ourselves we might mention that for three months—October, November, and December—we had, month by month, more paid advertising than any other magazine, while our December number had more pages of paid advertising than any other magazine at any time in the history of the world.
Another interesting fact is that during the two months of November and December, MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE made greater strides in permanent circulation than any other magazine ever made.
OUR OWN PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT.
We have been compelled by the large circulation of the MAGAZINE to purchase a complete printing and binding plant. This we hope to install before the first of March. The capacity of the plant will be not less than five hundred thousand copies a month, and, under pressure, we can print six hundred thousand copies.
We have secured the best and most modern presses, and, with proper pressmen, shall be able to print as beautiful a magazine as can be made anywhere.
ANTHONY HOPE'S NEW NOVEL
begins in our April number. It is a spirited story of adventure. It is his first novel since "The Prisoner of Zenda," and has even more action than that splendid story.