§12. "The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle". VII. Colonial Newspapers and Magazines, 1704–1775. Vol. 15. Colonial and Revolutionary Literature; Early National Literature, Part I. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
VOLUME XV. Colonial and Revolutionary Literature; Early National Literature, Part I.

VII. Colonial Newspapers and Magazines, 1704–1775.

§ 12. The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle.

There were a few magazines of this standard English type in America before the Revolution. Franklin, as usual, led the way, though it happened that his rival Andrew Bradford actually published the first magazine in the colonies. Franklin’s soon followed, and these two little periodicals brought out the same month in Philadelphia, 1741, clearly indicate the attempt to transplant the English type, with some adaptations, for colonial readers. Franklin’s title, The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America, shows his intention of giving a review of colonial news rather than of British. He did, as a matter of fact, use The Virginia Gazette and other weeklies for articles and verse, but he also took European items whenever he could get them. Both magazines were evidently premature, however, for Bradford’s existed only three months, and Franklin’s only six.