The Magazine of Magazines, Index 2, 1755

Front and back covers and pages from The Magazine of Magazines bound collection. In 1751, Limerick printer Andrew Welsh began printing an edition of the London based The Magazine of Magazines. Welsh, having learnt his trade from his father in Cork, began printing the Magazine, based in a building called ‘The Exchange’ on Nicholas Street, Englishtown, near the cathedral in Limerick. The Limerick publication started life as a direct, almost page for page, reprint of the London edition, printed by William Owen. The publication was a major undertaking for Welsh in Limerick. Welsh claims to have bought an entirely new set of type dedicated to printing the magazine, and the Limerick edition (like many other Irish re-prints of English works) is of better quality than its London counterpart. The Limerick edition was not simply aimed at the immediate urban public; there are three named retailers in Cork as well as one in Dublin. The Magazine, which was published for the best part of two decades, from 1751 to 1769, is a miscellany comprising of extracts from numerous eighteenth century periodicals and journals and covers subjects as diverse as Science, Philosophy, Medicine, Meteorology, Religion, Mythology and Literature to name but a few. It was the first periodical publication to feature Thomas Gray’s famous Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, in 1751, and published essays and excerpts from towering intellectual figures of the day such as Dr Johnson and Voltaire. Prof Geraldine Sheridan, Dr. Michael Griffin, Yvonne Diggins, Research Assistant.University of Limerick Research Seed Fund & PRTLI4 Funde