The Lone Hand (magazine)

Cover of the July 1907 edition

The Lone Hand was a monthly Australian magazine of literature and poetry published between 1907 and 1928. The magazine was based in Sydney.[1]

History

The Lone Hand was founded in 1907 by J F Archibald and Frank Fox as a monthly Australian magazine of literature and poetry as a sister magazine to The Bulletin.[1] It was modelled on The London Strand.[2] Originally, Archibald had wanted the name Lone Hand for what became The Bulletin.[2] Once the magazine was established, Archibald had little to do with its running.[3] It tended to echo the themes of The Bulletin; Australian individuality and mateship, and support for the White Australia Policy.

In common with The Bulletin, contributions from the public were solicited and paid for at the 'going rate'. A remarkable innovation was a prize offered to readers who found errors (including typo's) in advertisements and contributions.[1] It also sponsored the first Australian beauty contest in 1908 (after a challenge by the Chicago Tribune), and featured columns by celebrities.[2]

The Lone Hand was an initial success. The first issue in May 1907 sold out its print run of 50,000 copies in three days; the second issue sold out in one.[2] But two years later, faced with falling circulation and advertising revenue - mostly due to competition from overseas magazines, Fox instituted radical changes, adding a women's section and fashion photography.[4] The price of the magazine was also dropped from 1 shilling to 6 pence, and the language used in its editorials was softened to engage a broader audience. In 1914 links with The Bulletin were cut. By 1919 the magazine was being published in a larger format, with more articles on higher quality paper. However, when the price was adjusted again to 9 pence, circulation dropped and continuing the production became unsustainable. February 1928 was the last issue published.[1]

Contributors

Cover design by David Henry Souter of the September 1909 edition

Major contributors included:

Editors

Editors were:[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "The Lone Hand". Austlit. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature William H Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews Oxford University Press 2nd ed. 1994 ISBN 0-19-553381-X
  3. ↑ Sylvia Lawson (10 September 1919). "Biography - Jules François Archibald". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Tracing the Origins of Australian Fashion Photography". La Trobe Journal. Spring 2005. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "photo-web". photo-web. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  6. ↑ "Works in The Lone Hand by C.J. Dennis (1876-1938)". Middle Miss. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Art search

Further reading

  • Kit Taylor (1977). A history with indexes of the Lone hand, the Australian monthly. J.B. Hobbs. ISBN 978-0-9596824-0-3.
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