George Smith, the Victorian publisher, already had experience as a magazine proprietor when he decided to launch a new monthly periodical,
The Cornhill Magazine, in 1859. His company, Smith, Elder & Co., was then among the most successful publishers, with authors including the Brontës, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, and William Thackeray. The company had wide-ranging interests including banking, commodities and colonial trade, and publishing had been a minor concern until the young Smith took a personal interest in it. The profits from the book business and beyond gave Smith the freedom to embark on the riskier, speculative world of magazines. Astute businessman that he was, he succeeded in this most unlikely venture. During the 1850s he published two colonial…
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Citation: Fenwick, Gillian. "The Cornhill Magazine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 November 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9240, accessed 24 November 2024.]
