The London Mercury

Overview

In his first editorial note for The London Mercury, editor J. C. Squire clearly stated mission of this new periodical when he said, “we have had no paper which has combined, as the LONDON MERCURY will do, all those various kinds of matter which are required by the lover of books and the practiced writer” (Squire, Editorial Note). In an attempt to help bridge the gap in discussion of literary criticism that was made during the first world war, The London Mercury emerged with the mission of reconnecting the learned public to literary spheres. As Squire continues, he explains that the goal of this periodical was to “as critics, state and reiterate what are the motives and what must be the dominant elements of all good art, whatever the idiosyncrasies of the arts,” as well as to end the paradox of a man who “often writes for years before he is heard of by the mass of the cultivated readers who are naturally predisposed to like his work” (Squire, Editorial Note). Though it did provide conservative commentary on political literature, the periodical itself avoided political contention, and the majority of social issues and discussions brought up, were those subtly included within the literary pieces themselves (The London Mercury).

The London Mercury published the works of many poets and authors that are still read today. In the first volumes, one could read the works of Aldous Huxley and Tomas Hardy, while later printings would have included other names such as Robert Frost, William Butler Yeats, Kathrine Mansfield and Henry Williamson (The London Mercury). Besides the original authors and poets, themselves, the periodical employed various gentlemen as literary correspondence for specific literary fields. Men such as W. F. Turner, John Nash, and Edward F. Dent regularly reported on current happenings in drama, fine arts, and music in the first volume of the periodical (Squire, The London Mercury). They would give a report, as well as critique of productions, readings, performances, as well as other activities, so as to keep the public informed on current literary events.

An initial aesthetic study of the first six issues of the periodical provide some interesting insight as to the intended audience and allude to the editor’s goals of “teaching English… the fostering of the arts,” and, “the preservation of ancient monuments” (Squire, Editorial Note). The physical covers of the periodicals are of a rough, sturdy rust color, cut ever so slightly larger than the pages within, as to protect them. Every front cover is the same, the title The London Mercury in large print, followed by the Editor. The cover design is very simple, with the volume, edition and a single imprinted image of, whom the reader would assume to be, the facial profile of the Roman deity Mercury.

The content layout of The London Mercury was very uniform across the different printings. Opening to advertisements and then to a table of contents, the periodical always begins with a note from the Editor in which he references previous periodical prints and reassures the reader of the purpose of the printing. After that there is a selection of poetry in varying verse, type and theme. The majority of the content is made of essays, short stories and literary criticism, again from varying themes and intentions. The section of shared literature is then followed by a “Correspondence” section in which are contained the letters to the Editor, responding to the periodical. The last small portion of the periodical is made of brief reviews of drama, fine arts, and music; there are also bibliographies of modern authors, a “list of publications” as well as a page highlighting significant happenings in the literary world.

Like the majority of other periodicals of the time, the London Mercury has pages of advertisements, with usually fifteen to twenty pages in the front of the piece, and one to five pages in the back. The advertisements are printed on glossier, more expensive paper, and many pages included images, while the rest of the periodical is on thicker, simpler paper stock.  The advertisements themselves, focused mainly on Literary works, from the most recent printings of children’s stories, to more expensive “classical works,” all encouraging the public critic to enlarge their personal libraries, as well as venture to read newer, unknown authors. There were many advertisements encouraging customers to branch out beyond England and study foreign authors such as Tolstoy and Cervantes. Many were more focused on the writer rather than the critic, advertising everything from commissions to ink pens. With few exceptions, almost all advertisements were explicitly focused on the writing, critiquing, and consumption of Literature.

An important characteristic of The London Mercury was the correspondence between the editor and readership. Most entries provided additional insight or criticism to a passage or piece that had been submitted. Often there were polite suggestions and corrections offered to help better the periodical, even grammatical corrections.Of all the pieces submitted for publishing, less than four percent made it to the final periodical. In response to the ninety-six percent that was turned away, one writer recorded, “the Editors job is to buy­­‑ not to teach. We are here to buy the articles we need and not to teach writers their business. The demand for outside work is greater than ever, but it must be interesting and up to date…. A lot of [the pieces submitted are] printable but writers rarely seem to consider the suitability of the article for the magazine to which they submit it” (Squire, The London Mercury).

J. C. Squire was chief editor for The London Mercury from its first printings in November of 1919 until 1934, when the role of editing was passed to Rolfe Arnold Scott-James. This same year it absorbed the smaller periodical The Bookman, becoming an even larger periodical and accessing their consumer pool. It is said that the London Mercury fell into financial ruin and was eventually absorbed by Life and Letters Today (The London Mercury).