A+Short+History+of+Periodicals

Periodicals (magazines) trace their roots back to pamphlets, broadsides, and almanacs. Many of the first periodicals were of the scholarly persuasion, the first being a German publication from 1663. The 1670's saw the start of entertaining periodicals in France. In the 18th century periodicals containing political writings were started. In addition to political writings there was a lot of literary criticism. In this century many specialized magazines of intellectual interest became popular with topics such as philosophy and archeology. The 19th century saw the start of periodicals for children and women. Religious reviews, popular weeklies and illustrated magazines also became extremely popular in the 19th century. The popularity of these publications was due to the middle and lower classes need for information. People became interested in public and political issues like they never had before. With this advent of mass publications being sent out, came new innovations in paper, illustrations, printings, and advertisements.