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Very Rare July 1806 edition of “The Gentleman’s Magazine”: Original - $85 (west of Ann Arbor)
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Some of the topics included foreign news, wars, crimes, natural disasters, commodities—as well as obits, poetry, and book reviews.
It had the distinction of being the first publication to use the word “magazine” in its title.
The magazine’s motto was “E pluribus unum” (“Out of many, one”), which was later adopted by the United States as its unofficial motto.
The magazine stopped publication in 1907.
This July 1806 edition ranges from pages 695-688. The page numbers began in January 1806 and ran until December 1806.
Every six months to a year, the monthly issues were collected by subscribers and taken to the bookbinders, and bound together for safekeeping
Somehow, this particular July 1806 edition escaped the bookbinders and has its original light blue cover.
The magazine cost “One shilling and sixpence” (between 10 and 20 cents in 1806), which was a lot of money back then.
On the front cover (the back one seems to have come off) is a sketch of St. John’s Gate in Clerkenwell, where the magazine’s founder, Edward Cave, lived. The structure also served as the printing offices of the magazine..
Below the illustration is list of new books that continue on the inside front cover.
Inside, next to the title page are meteorological tables, corn, and other grain prices of 1806.
Next to page 600 is an artistic insert which include pen-and-ink illustrations which include scenes from Averbury in Willshire, Stonehenge, and Rolright in Oxfordshire.
Next to page 616 is a full page pen-and-ink illustration entitle “Fairlop Oak as it appeared 1805.”
Page 623 has a Quantity of Rain table for 1805 while the last regular page is a table for stock prices in July 1806.
The book is made of heavier stock paper and measures 6 x 9 inches and is bound together by its original string running through three holes.
Since printing for the general public was fairly new, many of the pages have irregular sizes. Also, since printing was very expensive, the font sizes are very, very small.
Thomas Jefferson was President of the U.S. at the time and King George III was King of England.