Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/152



the time of John Cassell's death the Family Paper and the Quiver were the only two magazines published by the House, both being issued in the then approved style of weekly numbers at one penny and monthly parts at seven-pence. By 1867 the circulation of the Family Paper had diminished, and as a consequence the title was changed to Cassell's Magazine, and the size of the paper reduced, but the price remained the same. The type of contents was also changed, so that the new issue resembled the good magazines of to-day rather than its more solid contemporaries of the 'sixties. The salient paragraph of the publishers' lengthy note, by which the new venture was announced, ran thus:

"The illustrations will be by the best artists. Fiction of powerful interest will form the prominent features of its pages, but with this will be associated popular articles on Topics of the Day, Striking Narratives, Biographical Memoirs, and Papers on Social Subjects, which, it is believed, will be read with interest in every family circle to which Cassell's Magazine is destined to find its way. It will also contain short Poems by eminent writers; but the object of its Editor will be to avoid all subjects which, however acceptable to classes or individuals, are not of general interest."

The note ends with a flourish in which there is a personal touch foreign to most present-day advertising but savouring of the ebullient mid-Victorian time:

"With these few words, then, Cassell, Petter and Galpin commit this new undertaking to the kind consideration of their many friends, asking their assistance in the endeavour to place within reach of all a Magazine containing, in an attractive form, the thoughts of the most popular writers of our time, illustrated by the pencils of the best living artists."