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The Ladies' Monthly Museum, or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction: being an Assemblage of what can Tend to please the Fancy, Instruct the mind or Exalt the Character of the British Fair, 1798-1832


Last Update 4/23/4

Key Sources on The Ladies' Monthly Museum

Laudermilk, Sharon, and Teresa L. Hamlin. The Regency Companion. New York: Garland, 1989.

About The Ladies' Monthly Museum . . .

The volume numbers of this journal are difficult to understand. In 1814 a new series (the second of 3) began. The third series was labelled "new series improved" and the name was changed from The Lady's Monthly Museum (the spelling of the first and second series) to The Ladies' Monthly Museum. J. W. H. Payne began to publish the magazine with the 2nd series.

Laudermilk and Hamlin claim the magazine was "Edited by a `Society of Ladies'" and ran from 1798 to 1832 (33). The University of California at Santa Barbara, however, informs us in their library catalogue that the publication ceased in 1828.

To confuse matters, libraries often file the magazine under variant titles leaving out either "Lady's" or "Ladies" or "Monthly." Even more confusing is the fact that later American periodicals used similar names.

The volumes are numbered by the half year, running from January to June and July to December. They usually had one plate per month, although the journal experimented widely, sometimes having two plates. Many of the plates were only slightly varied from the previous month's plates of more expensive and classier journals like Ackermann's Repository or La Belle Assemblee. Some issues include about one sentence of fashion description, other have four to five pages of complex fashion commentary. The journal was unable to consistently employ the same engraver, and sometimes even apologized for the poor quality of the prints. One thing the journal did to save money was combine fashions to be worn at different times of the day to different sort of events together in one plate. Thus the plates often have a sort of disjointed look, for one women frequently looks inappropriately dressed for the setting (holding a parasol indoors for instance).

January 1802 Issue February 1802 Issue
March 1802 Issue April 1802 Issue May 1802 Issue June 1802 Issue
July 1802 Issue August 1802 Issue September 1802 Issue October 1802 Issue
November 1802 Issue December 1802 Issue April 1803 Issue July 1804 Issue
September 1807 Issue December 1807 Issue March 1809 Issue May 1809 Issue
July 1810 Issue December 1810 Issue January 1811 Issue February 1811 Issue
March 1811 Issue April 1811 Issue May 1811 Issue June 1811 Issue
July 1811 Issue August 1811 Issue September 1811 Issue October 1811 Issue
November 1811 Issue December 1811 Issue January 1812 Issue February 1812 Issue
March 1812 Issue April 1812 Issue May 1812 Issue June 1812 Issue
July 1812 Issue August 1812 Issue September 1812 Issue October 1812 Issue
November 1812 Issue December 1812 Issue January 1813 Issue February 1813 Issue
March 1813 Issue April 1813 Issue May 1813 Issue June 1813 Issue
July 1813 Issue August 1813 Issue September 1813 Issue October 1813 Issue
November 1813 Issue December 1813 Issue January 1814 Issue February 1814 Issue
March 1814 Issue April 1814 Issue May 1814 Issue June 1814 Issue
July 1814 Issue August 1814 Issue September 1814 Issue October 1814 Issue
November 1814 Issue December 1814 Issue January 1815 Issue February 1815 Issue
March 1815 Issue April 1815 Issue May 1815 Issue June 1815 Issue
July 1815 Issue August 1815 Issue September 1815 Issue October 1815 Issue
November 1815 Issue December 1815 Issue


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