Eighteenth Century Periodicals Written Primarily By or For Women

 

Though not entirely comprehensive, this list provides some sense of both the large number of periodicals circulating for women during the eighteenth century and the short life spans most endured. The lines between magazines "written primarily by or for women" and those written for the general public are not hard and fast, but these publications appear to have addressed themselves particularly to ladies. Some of the "authors" the periodicals claim are listed; most are pseudonyms.

 

1693 The Ladies Mercury

1705 A Legacy for the Ladies, or Characters of the Women of the Age By Mr. Thomas Brown

1709-10 The Female Tatler By Mrs. Crackenthorpe

1709 The Whisperer By Mrs. Jenny Distaff

1710 Records of Love, or Weekly Amusements for the Fair Sex

1714 The Spinster By Rachel Woolpack

1715 The Lover

1715-16 Town Talk, In a Letter to a Lady in the Country

1716 Chit Chat By Humphrey Philroye

1723 Young Ladies’ Miscellany

1724 The Tea Table By Eliza Haywood

1727 The Ladies’ Journal (Ireland)

1728 The Parrot By Mrs Penelope Prattle

1732-3 The Friendly Writer and Register of Truth By Ruth Collins

1733 The Lady’s Magazine, or Monthly Intelligencer

1738-9 The Lady’s Magazine, or Compleat Library

1744-46 The Female Spectator By Eliza Haywood

1746 The Parrot. With a Compendium of the Times By the authors of The Female Spectator

1747 The Lady’s Weekly Magazine By Mrs. Penelope Pry

1749-53 The Ladies’ Magazine, or the Universal Entertainer By Jasper Goodwill of Oxford, Esq.

1751-53 The Midwife, or Old Woman’s Magazine By Mrs. Mary Midnight

1751 The Ladies Library Written by a Lady

1752 Have At You All, or the Drury Lane Journal By Madame Roxana Termagant

1752 The Lady’s Curiosity, or Weekly Apollo By Nestor Druid, Gent

1755-56 The Old Maid By Mary Singleton, Spinster

1756 The Wife By Mira (Eliza Haywood)

1756 The Young Lady By Euphrosyne

1759 The Invisible Spy By Explorabilis (Eliza Haywood)

1759-63 The Lady’s Magazine, or Polite Companion for the Fair Sex

1760 The Royal Female Magazine

1760-1 The Lady’s Museum

1765-9 The Court Miscellany, or Ladies’ New Magazine By Matilda Wentworth & others

1770-1832 The Lady’s Magazine, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex

1774 The Friend, or Essays Instructive and Entertaining for Youth of Both Sexes

1775 The Matrimonial Magazine

1777 The Magazine a la Mode, or Fashionable Miscellany

1787 The Female Guardian By a Lady

1786-95 The New Lady’s Magazine, or Polite & Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex

1786-87 The Pharos: A collection of Periodical Essays

1793 The Female Mentor

1793 The Lady’s Miscellany By George Wright, Esq.

1794-1803 The Gallery of Fashion

1795 The Parlour Window By Mrs. Eustace and her sister

1796 The Parental Monitor By Mrs. Bonhote

1798-1828 The Lady’s Monthly Museum By a Society of Ladies

 

 

 

 

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