History of the magazine
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| Johann Von Rist |
Written in the 1600s (1663 untill 1668 to be exact) this is considered the first of the popular magazine we know today. It was mostly written by Johann Von Rist, a theologian and poet, the magazine contained a narrow scope for the readers and only lasted five years before it promptly stopped production. Considering how todays magazines and newspapers have been around since the 1920s this was not a long production period for a magazine.
The first widely read magazine however was 'The gentleman's magazine' published in 1731 London and was the first general interest magazine. Edward cave who edited the magazine was the first to use the term magazine.
The first illustrated magazine however was the 'Illustrated London News' founded by Herbert Ingram in 1842. Magazines only really became popular in the 20th century due to the recently new mass production line from large companies such as Ford in America. Magazines swept entire countries becoming popular in the thousands in subscriber count and some even entered the millions in sold magazines. The 1920s were the age of Mass media which would come to control the hopes of the public in the events of war. Thanks to the rapid expansion of national advertising, the cover price decreased to about 10 cents. One cause was the heavy coverage of corruption in politics, local government and big businesses namely by mudcrackers. Mudcrackers were journalists who wrote for largely popular magazines to expose political sins and corruption as well as scandals; of which at this time it mainly focused on the scandals of the governments instead of what we know to day with scandals in 21st magazines. Mudcracking writers, for 'Mc clure's' notably focused on cooperate monopolies and political crooks.
Another new development for magazines in the 1920s were women's magazines which came to surface after selections of women rebelled against tradition, namely flappers. Flappers were women that had cut their hair short, smoked, drank, went out at night without a male escort and took part in the illegal speak easies so it would be no surprise when women's magazines appeared on the shelves of the American stores. Wome's magazines set a trend and social statement for young women which helped to break the traditional victorian morales. Women who had broken away, namely famous women such as magazine writer Lois Long, a widely respected female head of the cooperate magazine business, and Clara Bow an on-screen star. 
