American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge

The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge (1834–1837) was a monthly magazine based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established by a group of engravers to "give to the public a work descriptive, not merely of subjects, scenes, places, and persons existing in distant climes, but also of those which are to be found in our own fine and native country." It featured profusely illustrated articles on many topics, including American animals, plants, natural scenery, colleges, banks, hospitals, churches, cities, technology, and so on; as well as biographical articles on figureheads of the revolutionary and federal eras. Modelled after the British Penny Magazine, it was published first by the Boston Bewick Company, then by William D. Ticknor and John L. Sibley. In 1836 Nathaniel Hawthorne served as editor.

Images

• 1834 buffalo AmericanMagazine v1 Boston.png

  Illustration of a bison from American Magazine, 1834

• 1834 Bagdad1 AmericanMagazine v1 Boston.png

  Baghdad, from American Magazine 1834

• 1835 clouds AmericanMagazine v1 Boston.png

  Clouds, from American Magazine 1835

Further reading

• American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge. v.1 (1834–1835); v.2 (1835–1836); v.3 (1836–1837).

External links

• Hathi Trust. American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge

• American Magazine, v.1, no.1; p.1.
• "Several of the gentlemen interested in the magazine, are themselves engravers, and it may be said without vanity, that they have contributed in no small degree to bring that beautiful, though long neglected art, to the high point of perfection which it has attained in this country." American Magazine, v.1, no.1; p.1.
• The Boston Bewick Co. was affiliated with Abel Bowen; George W. Boynton; Lewis H. Bridgham; Daniel H. Craig; William Croome; John C. Crossman; George A. Curtis; Nicholas B. Devereux, Jr.; John Downes; John H. Hall; Alonzo Hartwell; Freeman Hunt, and Richard P. Mallory. The firm kept offices on Court Street in Boston. Cf. American Magazine, v.1, 1834.
• William James Linton. The history of wood-engraving in America. Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1882.
• Brenda Wineapple. Hawthorne: a life. Random House, 2004; p.87-89.
• Joseph R. Modugno. Introduction to "The Duston Family." Hawthorne in Salem. Retrieved 6 January 2010.