Snowy Day Eye Candy- First Issues

Were about to be hit by the first blizzard of the season so it gives me time to put together a post.

When I started collecting magazines nearly forty years ago, my goal was to get the first issue of every major American magazine ever published, especially ones that you find on your newsstand today. Spending a ridiculous but highly enjoyable amount of time towards accomplishing that task, I've been fairly successful and I'm kinda proud of what I have put together. Some people or institutions might be close but I'd dare say you won't find this assemblage anywhere else on the planet. So, by the miracle of the modern hard drive, I am bringing a hearty sampling to you today.

They are assembled in a relatively random fashion with some loose underlying method to my madness that I think you'll appreciate. All are not necessarily volume one number one but most are. All are the first circulated issue of the magazine. Some are common, others exquisitely rare.

The grandaddy of them all is actually a journal but since it has been continually published since 1818, its worth including.

The Queen is actually the first issue of what became McCalls (R.I.P).

I've been admittedly a little lazy about those that began in the last few years. I have most of them but haven't scanned them to include. If there's any particular first issue you don't see, drop me a line and I will send you a digital image as a holiday present.

I hope you enjoy the picture show as much as I enjoyed putting it together and waxing nostalgic about all the time I spent amassing this irreplaceable and unique panoply of popular American culture.

Which of these magazines do you think has the highest present day circulation? You'll be quite surprised and it really isn't even close. Hint: the target audience might be more apt to read it in hardcopy than online.

Happy Holidays!

Answer to quiz: Modern Maturity- present circulation a whopping 24 million!