Description
- Language(s)
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English
- Published
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Philadelphia : [Sam. C. Atkinson], 1831-1839.
- Note
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Title from caption.
(contd.) James Russell Lowell, Edgar Allan Poe, Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, George Pope Morris, Alfred B. Street, and Thomas Buchanan Read were among its writers for the first year, and in the following years, other well-known writers were added - William Cullen Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper, Richard Henry Dana, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mrs. Emma C. Embury, Mrs. Seba Smith, and Nathaniel Parker Willis. One of its chief distinctions was its light essays; poetry, too, was important, both because of the fame of the contributors and the space devoted to it. Another feature was its illustrations, which included mezzotints by John Sartain, colored fashion plates, and many plates of sentimental and domestic scenes and landscapes. After 1850, however, it became difficult to compete with Harper's and the magazine began to languish, finally being suspended in 1858. But during its lifetime, it had published some important work by the best American writers of the time.
This publication was a miscellany of tales and articles taken chiefly from other periodicals, with puzzles, jokes, music, and poetry. Illustrations consisted of engraved plates and some woodcuts of flowers and of American scenery. Although it is important chiefly as the earlier series of Graham's in its heyday the Casket achieved a wide popularity. When George R. Graham purchased the magazine in May, 1839, he modelled it after the Gentleman's Magazine, publishing rather sensational tales dealing with love, American adventure, and the Orient, along with poetry, a little travel, and book reviews. But Graham's forged far ahead of its model in both literary value and illustration.
- Physical Description
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9 v. :
ill. ;
24 cm.
Viewability