The Strand Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2 (February 1891)
The second issue of George Newnes's illustrated monthly, 141 scanned pages with the advertising sections left in. The editorial half mixes translated fiction (Pushkin's The Pistol-Shot, Balzac's A Passion in the Desert, Mérimée's The Redoubt Was Taken) with picture features: a night with the Thames Police, a tour of the Royal Mint, which showed 7,012 visitors round in a year, Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of Their Lives (Cardinal Manning, Ruskin, Gladstone, Mrs. Langtry), and letters from painters such as Leighton and Watts on ladies' dress.
What it is
The second issue of George Newnes's illustrated monthly, 141 scanned pages with the advertising sections left in. The editorial half mixes translated fiction (Pushkin's The Pistol-Shot, Balzac's A Passion in the Desert, Mérimée's The Redoubt Was Taken) with picture features: a night with the Thames Police, a tour of the Royal Mint, which showed 7,012 visitors round in a year, Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of Their Lives (Cardinal Manning, Ruskin, Gladstone, Mrs. Langtry), and letters from painters such as Leighton and Watts on ladies' dress. The ads front and back sell soap, cocoa, corsets, typewriters and patent cures. Frazer's Sulphur Tablets offers free samples to anyone who names the magazine. Two electric-belt firms, Harness and Carter Moffat, fill several pages with testimonials, and one opens as a mock column called Our Doctor's Note Book.
Why read it now
The issue shows how a mass magazine paid its way: the editorial won the reader, and the front and back pages sold that reader's attention. Several ad moves still hold. Frazer's asks readers to name The Strand Magazine when writing, an early source code that did the job of a UTM tag or promo code. Its copy also screens out freeloaders: do not write just because it is free, read to the end and decide. Field research on free samples, such as Bawa and Shoemaker (2004), finds sampling can lift sales well beyond the trial itself. Lewis's promises a new dress free if its velveteen wears badly, and Cadbury's prints an analyst's table of 21 against 13 and 6. What has dated is the health copy. The electric belts claim to cure dozens of ailments on testimonials alone, and the Harness page dressed as a doctor's column is the ancestor of the unlabelled advertorial; Wojdynski and Evans (2016) found most readers miss native ads unless they are clearly labelled. Use: give every offer its own code per channel, and add one line telling the wrong people not to reply.
Passages worth keeping
We do not pose as philanthropists. This is a business offer.
المعلن يصرّح بأن العينة المجانية ليست إحسانًا بل صفقة، وهذه الصراحة تجعل العرض أقرب إلى التصديق.
Write us letter or post-card, naming "The Strand Magazine," and we will send you samples of FRAZER'S SULPHUR TABLETS gratis and post free.
يطلب الإعلان ذكر اسم المجلة في الطلب، فيعرف المعلن أي وسيلة جاءت بالعميل، وهي فكرة رمز التتبع نفسها.
OUR DOCTOR'S NOTE BOOK. INTERESTING EXTRACT, Health without Physic.
إعلان حزام كهربائي يبدأ بعنوان يوحي بأنه عمود طبي من تحرير المجلة، فيستعير ثقة المحتوى التحريري.
If a Dress should wear badly, or be in any respect faulty, LEWIS'S will GIVE a NEW DRESS for NOTHING AT ALL, and pay the full Cost for making and trimming
المتجر يتحمل الخطر كاملًا، فإن فسد القماش أعطى فستانًا جديدًا ودفع أجرة الخياطة، فيزول تردد المشتري.
CADBURY'S COCOA BEING ABSOLUTELY PURE IS THEREFORE THE BEST COCOA.
الإعلان يربط النقاء بالأفضلية في جملة منطقية واحدة، ويسندها بجدول تحليل كيميائي يسبقها.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original wellcomecollection.org
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