1 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. TROW & SMITH BOOK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, THE establishment of a new magazine is certainly, at the present day, an enterprise upon which a publisher must be very sanguine indeed to enter without some appreciation of its difficulties. Though in this and similar undertakings, we confess to an admiration of that trait of the character of Oliver Goldsmith, which he described as "a knack at hoping," without which, indeed, we believe few achievements of value in the world are attainable, yet we did not resume the conduct of PUTNAM'S MAGAZINE, without, if not our share of anxiety, at least proper consideration and forethought. In reviewing the situation, taking breath as it were at the landing-place of our first completed volume, we have little to set down on the score of disappointment, but, on the other hand, much to congratulate ourselves upon. Many things have concurred to favor the undertaking. It has been well received by our old friends of the trade, and consequently, both in the way of cause and effect of this, by the great reading public; a corps of efficient, and in many instances, distinguished contributors has secured it prompt, willing, and complimentary attention from the Press; the success which it has achieved has been gained without pretence or exaggeration, and what has pleased us most, is that the recollection of our former Magazine-the first series of Putnam's Monthly-is still fresh in the mind of the public, and that as we learn from many quarters-its reputation has served us in the renewal of the old enterprise in the present work. What we have accomplished in our first volume, is before the reader. For this, the table of contents is a sufficient preface. For the future, we have, in our well-stored pigeon-holes of accepted articles from authors whom America has ever delighted to honor, the certainty that the present standard will be maintained; while, without over-confidence, we may promise our readers something from the experience which every month brings with it, and the inevitable growth and progress attendant upon our appeal to the whole country. A glance at the correspondence of the Magazine, would exhibit the interest expressed in the conduct of the work, from Maine to Louisiana; from New York to San Francisco, and thence to Japan. It was our promise at the outset, to aim at a broad, generous nationality; and we trust our pages have shown that we lost sight of this result. As the work goes on, we may bly look for further opportunities in this direction, from the ng of unexpected sources of interest in "fresh woods and pastures ," and the appearance of writers who will give expression in literure to these novel circumstances of development and progress, and the Aspirations which they awaken. The literature of America has a rich promise of a noble and abundant harvest in the future. We trust it may be the happy privilege of this Magazine to reflect in its pages something of its sure and honorable progress. A word as to the general plan of our work. In the preliminary announcement, its leading object was set forth to be the discussion of questions of Public Policy, Religion and Education, Science and Art, Industrial Pursuits, Finance, Political Economy, and Social Science; with ample provision for the various departments of general Literature in Fiction, Poetry, Essays, and other forms. Already, within the compass of a single volume, examples of all of these have been given, in numerous instances, from the pens of writers of well-proved and eminent ability. These subjects will be pursued hereafter under similar advantages, with a freedom and breadth of treatment commensurate with the enlightened demands of the day. Variety is the life of a popular Magazine-and we may promise our readers that it will always be found in our pages. PUTNAM'S MAGAZINE, holding an intermediate position between the daily or weekly newspapers, and the quarterly reviews, will endeavor to present the ease and attractiveness, the interest and novelty of the one, with something of the solidity of the other, that it may, as it appears month after month, be taken up with pleasure and be found worthy of preservation as an enduring portion of the literature of the country. |