Category:The Pageant

Title: The Pageant

Editor: C. Hazelwood Shannon and J.W. Gleeson White

Publisher: Messrs Henry and Co.

The Pageant was a literary journal published and distributed annually in 1896 and 1897. Despite its short run, “the Pageant remains one of the most attractive, one of the most professional, and one of the best little magazines published during the periodicals-rich 1890s.”^[1]Pageant has been described as “a hardbound magazine in the style of a gift book”^[2]and was intended as intelligent, leisure reading for educated members of the upper class.

The editors of the magazine, C. Hazelwood Shannon (art) and J.W. Gleeson White (literature) “agreed to include poetry, short stories, essays, plays, and reproductions of art, selected from among their friends and from some of the new, emerging artists and writers of the day.”^[3]Some of the artists included notable names such as Dante Gabriel Rosetti and Gustave Moreau. The writers included W.B. Yeats, A.C. Swinburne, Paul Verlaine, Lionel Johnson, and Robert Bridges.

There was never an overarching moral for The Pageant, although there certainly were some writers that chose to write about moralistic ideas. The short stories focused on familial or lover relationships, nobility, university life, and even astronomy. There were often references to mythology, Christianity, musical composers, and other literature. Parts of the stories were often written in other languages such as French, German, Arabic, and Spanish. Two of the poems published in the journals were in French. Most of the poetry focused on themes of sea voyages, war, and Christianity. The plays were often translated from French to English, and focused on familial and lover relationships. The essays were thorough critiques on movements happening during the time period, mainly in art and in theatre. The reproductions of art varied in form from pencil drawings to paintings and were largely symbolic. Most of the artwork was not abstract. The subjects of the painters were usually naked women, sometimes accompanied by naked men, although never in sexual positions, and always deep with symbolic meaning.

The journal was produced with high-quality in mind. Indeed, “to ensure the greatest possible delicacy of effect, the pictures interleaved have been printed throughout by the Swan Electric Engraving Company, by whom also the Blocks have been made. The mixing of coloured inks has been supervised by the art editor."^[4]The Swan Electric Engraving Company was a pioneer of using electric lighting in printing reproductions of art. This use of electric lighting allowed them to work “regardless of weather.”^[5]The Swan Electric Engraving Company was also involved in several literary and artistic circles.

Notes

1. ↑ Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals: 1800-1900, Series 2, The. Ed. John S. North. North Waterloo Academic Press. http://www.victorianperiodicals.com/series2/default.asp. (WD)
2. ↑ WD
3. ↑ WD
4. ↑ WD
5. ↑ Beegan, Gerry. "Sir Joseph Swan (1828-1914)." The Yellow Nineties Online. 2010. http://www.1890s.ca/PDFs/swan_bio.pdf

Submitted by: Reber, Kristen: section 1, Winter 2014