1770 - John Coote founded The Lady's Magazine - in attempt to balance the number of male orientation magazines that were on the market - proper, polite and virtuous
There had been other female magazines during the first two-thirds of the 18th century but they had been unable to speak to women
The Female Tatler 1709
The Female Spectator 1744-46
The Lady's Magazine, or Polite Companion for the fair Sex 1759-63
The Lady's Museum 1760-61
1770s-80s two diverse courses for the magazine industry
- modish, raffish and satirical - eg - The Town and Country Magazine, 1769-96
- decorous, sentiment and moral - eg The Lady's Magazine, - 1770-1838
TLM - Sought to establish the amiable sensibility of the middle station of life - pseudo genteel essays addressed themselves to social aspirations - rather than practical domestic advice - did not concern itself with other wider aspects - political, scientific, foreign affairs, religious etc
Although reader by men - it made no conscious effort to attract a wider audience than women - unlike The Ladies Magazine, or the Universal Entertainer - 1749-53 - that had informative essays on general topics
At the beginning the criterion was selective - interesting stories, novels, tales, romances intended to confirm chastity and recommend virtue
Three years later they became less selective - other topics that would inspire virtue and condem vice
Audience was vast and feminine but it was also under-educated, amateur and unheard - except in the annals of the magazine
Published material that was denoted as reader contributions - subsciption work, paid professions and amateur writers - amateurs might amount to about half the contributions - the writers used names such as 'Clarrisa', 'a lady in love' and 'hopeless'
Most of these pseudonyms were estimated to be male
This magazine and its sisters were the feminine equivalent of the male coffee houses - where women could 'chat' together - and also at times with men
Cost - 6d per copy - published monthly
1774-91 - agony aunt called 'The Matron'
Contained fashion plates
Aimed at the 'tradesman's daughters rather than the genteel who wee more likely to read
- Le Belle Assemblee
