How Did Magazines Come About?

          During the eighteen hundreds most advertising was placed in newspapers or appeared on posters and handbills. Until the late eighteen eighties  magazines were a medium strictly for the wealthy and well educated, containing political commentaries, short stories, and discussions of art and fashion. This changed with the introduction of the People's Literary Companion by E.C. Allen, which appealed to a large group of general readers. Also, about this time Congress approved low postage rates for periodicals, which allowed magazines to be distributed economically by mail. The first magazine advertising appeared in July 1844 in the Southern Messenger, which was edited for a short time by Edgar Allan Poe.

          Magazines offered a medium for longer, more complex messages. They also had enough lead-time to permit the production of art such as engravings to illustrate articles and ads. As the production processes improved photographs were introduced, and magazine advertisements became highly visual. Some of the earliest magazines to contain advertising are still around today, including Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, and Reader's Digest.