WOMEN ADVISING WOMEN
Advice Books, Manuals and Journals for Women, 1450-1837

Part 3: The Lady's Magazine, 1770-1800

The Lady’s Magazine is a gold mine of poetry and prose by women, news of the latest fashions, pen portraits of female role models, and frank and revealing correspondence by women readers.

During its lifetime it claimed to witness a sea-change in the status of women. In its early days it saw no reason to constrain the education or activities of women. By 1825, however, it lamented that "Women have completely abandoned all attempts to shine in the political horizon, and now seek only to exercise their virtues in domestic retirement ... contented with truly feminine occupations."

Did such a sea-change occur? How did women’s writing and language change over this period? How did the format and nature of the magazine change?

We have pieced together a complete edition of The Lady’s Magazine from 1770 to 1832, by drawing on the resources of four British and American libraries.

This microfilm edition covers the Original Series (vols 1-49, 1770-1818); the New Series (vols 1-10, 1820-29); and the Improved Series (vols 1-5, 1830-32). We also include a short-lived rival using the same title (The Lady’s Magazine, 1791) and an earlier magazine with the same title (The Lady’s Magazine, 1738-1739).
Each volume is indexed.

Scholars can use this source to eavesdrop on the conversations of fashionable soires, to monitor the rise of the cult of appearances, and to sample women’s writing in the age of Jane Austen.