The Lone Hand (magazine)
The Lone Hand was a monthly Australian magazine of literature and poetry published between 1907 and 1928.
History
The Lone Hand was founded in 1907 by J F Archibald and Frank Fox as a monthly Australian magazine of literature and poetry as a sister magazine to The Bulletin.[1] It was modelled on The London Strand[2] Originally, Archibald had wanted the name Lone Hand for what became The Bulletin.[2] Once the magazine was established, Archibald had little to do with its running.[3] It tended to echo the themes of The Bulletin; Australian individuality and mateship, and support for the White Australia Policy.
In common with The Bulletin, contributions from the public were solicited and paid for at the 'going rate'. A remarkable innovation was a prize offered to readers who found errors (including typo's) in advertisements and contributions.[1] It also sponsored the first Australian beauty contest in 1908 (after a challenge by the Chicago Tribune), and featured columns by celebrities.[2]
The Lone Hand was an initial success. The first issue in May 1907 sold out its print run of 50,000 copies in three days; the second issue sold out in one.[2] But two years later, faced with falling circulation and advertising revenue, mostly due to competition from overseas magazines, Fox instituted radical changes, adding a women's section and fashion photography,[4] dropping the price from 1s to 6d, and softening the tone of its editorials. In 1914 links with The Bulletin were cut. By 1919 it was being published in a larger format, with more articles on higher quality paper. But when the price was raised to 9d, circulation dropped unsustainably. February 1928 was its last issue.[1]
Contributors
Major contributors included:
- A H Adams[2]
- L W Appleby (photographer)[5]
- Randolph Bedford[2]
- Zora Cross (inc. many pseudonyms)[1]
- Victor Daley[1]
- C J Dennis[6]
- Edward Dyson[1]
- Will Dyson (artist)[1]
- Mabel Forrest[2]
- Henry Lawson[1]
- Lionel Lindsay (artist)[1]
- Norman Lindsay (artist)[1]
- Percy Lindsay (artist)[1]
- David Low (artist)[1]
- Hugh McCrae[1]
- Ernest O'Ferrall[2]
- Dowell O'Reilly[1]
- Ambrose Pratt[1]
- Roderic Quinn[1]
- Steele Rudd The Old Homestead (serialised novel)[1]
- David Henry Souter (artist)[1]
- Louis Stone Betty Wayside (serialised novel)[1]
- J. W. Tristram (artist who contributed poetry under the pseudonym of Tris)
- David McKee Wright (inc. many pseudonyms)[1]
- Blamire Young (artist)[7]
Editors
Editors were:[1]
- J F Archibald 1907
- Frank Fox 1907 – 1909
- A H Adams 1909 – 1911
- Bertram Stevens 1912 – 1919
- Walter Jago 1919 – 1928
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=CZq%3B
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature William H Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews Oxford University Press 2nd ed. 1994 ISBN 0-19-553381-X
- ↑ http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030046b.htm
- ↑ http://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-76/t1-g-t7.html
- ↑ http://photo-web.com.au/ShadesofLight/09-salons.htm
- ↑ http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/denniscj/magazines/lonehand/lonehand.html
- ↑ http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=96294&PICTAUS=TRUE
Further reading
- Taylor, Kit (1977). A history with indexes of the Lone hand, the Australian monthly. J.B. Hobbs. ISBN 978-0-9596824-0-3.