Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/359

Rh soon proved his worth by turning to account the apparently useless stereotype plates; from one set alone, in one year, he cleared £1500 by cutting out the heads of chapters, &c., and re-setting them in new type. He re-opened the account with the "Bible Society," and in dealing with the "Christian Knowledge Society," abolished the tax of middlemen.

Parker had hoped, by his energy and perseverance, to become a partner with Mr. Clowes, but finding this precluded by family arrangements, he established himself at 445, West Strand, and at once received the appointment of "publisher of the books issued under the direction of the Committee of General Literature and Education, appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge." This "Committee" had been established to sanction and recommend books of a wholesome character, but which, not dealing chiefly with religious matters, were believed to be out of the legitimate sphere of the original Society's operations.

In July the first number of the Saturday Magazine appeared. Mr. Parker was his own editor, and many of the illustrations were from the pencil of his son, Mr. Frederick Parker, who died very young. The Saturday Magazine—one of the three parents of our cheap periodical literature—was published weekly at the low price of a penny, and, a répertoire of useful and entertaining facts, and not much else, was intended to counteract the effects of the licentious publications of the day, then the only ones within reach of the poorer classes. It was continued successfully for thirty-five volumes; but is more interesting now as the foreshadowing of a better time than for any intrinsic value of its own. It was eventually merged in Parker's London Magazine.