THE CENTURY
AND
ST. NICHOLAS.
A little more than a year ago the magazine which is now known as The Century passed a critical point in its history. Three important things happened to it: a change in its own name, a change in the name of the corporation publishing it, and the death of the editor-in-chief, Dr. J. G. Holland. Probably no such combination of circumstances had ever come to any periodical, and people watched with no little interest to see what would be the result. The change in name began with the November number, and the death of Dr. Holland came just before its issue. By reason of the great excellence of this number and its broad, popular features, its sale reached 137,500 copies, the average edition during the preceding twelve months having been 120,000. The following number, December, was a memorial issue to President Garfield and Dr. Holland; its sale was almost as great, and the increased demand has largely continued through the year. The November number (1882) just issued has an edition of 140,000 copies. The reasons of this growth are various; but they may be, for the most part, ascribed to the fact that the resources of literature and art have been constantly augmenting and that a gradual improvement has been going on, which has resulted in the issue of what the Providence Journal, speaking of The Century Magazine, calls “the most able and valuable publication ever put forth in magazine form.” Among its special features for 1883, “The History of Life in the Thirteen Colonies,” a series of separate papers by Dr. Edward Eggleston, just begun, to be richly and accurately illustrated, is alone worth the subscription price. Washington Gladden’s realistic serial, entitled “The Christian League of Connecticut,” is attracting wide attention among business men interested in Christian work. Henry James, Jr., Alphonse Daudet, Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charles Dudley Warner, “H. H.,” T. W. Higginson and Frank R. Stockton are among the contributors, and from them and from other distinguished writers will come the material for another brilliant year of The Century. Mr. W. D. Howell’s new novel, “A Woman’s Reason,” will begin in the February number.
There is another magazine published by The Century Co., which in the field of children’s literature occupies the same place that The Century fills in the grown-up world. It is St. Nicholas, now just beginning its tenth year, a magazine of which the London Times said a year ago: “It is above anything we produce in the same line.” It is a theory of the editor, Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, that there is nothing too good for children, and the boys and girls who read St. Nicholas are really getting the very best writing and the finest pictures that can be had. Its circulation is worldwide. In England, where it has had a large monthly sale for several years, six copies are said to be taken in the household of the Prince of Wales. The Queen of Italy reads it every month to her children. A book was recently issued in the Arabic language, and printed at Beirut, Syria, made up of poems and stories translated from St. Nicholas, enriched with the original pictures, loaned by the publishers for that purpose. This year the magazine is to have a serial story by J. T. Trowbridge, one of the most popular writers for boys in the world, and another by Frank R. Stockton—a historical novelette of boy and girl life in the thirteenth century—which the Springfield Republican has already predicted “will prove easily the best story of the year for the young.” St. Nicholas contains eighty or more pages every month, with from fifty to a hundred pictures; the best writers of two continents are educating the young folks who read it.
The Century costs $4.00 a year, and St. Nicholas $3.00. Special offers are made to new subscribers beginning with the November numbers. For further information and a handsomely illustrated 24-page pamphlet describing the magazines and their new home (sent free to persons mentioning this magazine), address the publishers.
THE CENTURY CO., NEW YORK, N.Y.