British Masculinity in the 'Gentleman’s Magazine', 1731 to 1815

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 1-4

3. Gentlemanly Masculinity

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 5-13

4. The History of the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1731 to 1815

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 14-32

5. Readers and Contributors

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 33-70

6. Gentlemanly Masculinity in the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1731 to 1756

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 71-108

7. Gentlemanly Masculinity in the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1757 to 1789

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 109-148

8. Gentlemanly Masculinity in the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1790 to 1815

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 149-180

9. Conclusion

   • Gillian Williamson

   Pages 181-186

10. Back Matter

    Pages 187-283

    PDF

The Gentleman's Magazine was the leading eighteenth-century periodical. By integrating the magazine's history, readers and contents this study shows how 'gentlemanliness' was reshaped to accommodate their social and political ambitions.

• Masculinity
• gender
• gentleman
• magazine
• eighteenth century
• publishing trade
• middle class
• history
• history of literature

“Gillian Williamson’s fascinating book offers a sustained and detailed study of the Magazine’s readership and its changing ideas of the gentleman, from its foundation by Edward Cave in 1731 to the aftermath of Waterloo in 1815. … the Gentleman’s Magazine had been an aspirational publication for the ‘middling sort’, in which readers from the mercantile and professional classes fashioned the figure of the gentleman in their own image.” (Caroline Gonda, The BARS Review, Issue 49, 2017)

• Independent Scholar, UK

  Gillian Williamson

Gillian Williamson read Classics at the University of Cambridge, UK, and worked as a corporate finance adviser in London. She returned to academic study after editing a lottery-funded local history book, and also contributed to The Victoria History of Essex: Newport (2015).

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