Description: THE PENNY MAGAZINE January 20, 1838 English Gypsies Victoria Reglia water lily travelling in America This is a paper which is over 180 years old. It is a London weekly, printed in a small format, measuring 7 by 11 in size, and is 8 pages long. The paper came from a bound volume and has typical minor disbinding marks at the spine, but is otherwise in excellent and attractive condition. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The lead story is a 3-page article titled The English Gypsies, which is illustrated with a front page wood engraving of Sir Joshua Reynolds' painting of The Fortune-Teller. The accompanying text is over 325 lines in length, and says, in part: The gypsies are indeed a singular phenomenon in our history. They have been moving over the surface of our continually advancing civilization for upwards of three centuries, and they still retain their Eastern habits. Acts of Parliament have been thundered at themthe law has dealt with themjustices and constables have chased them from county to county:they have survived all. Driven into our towns and cities by the inclemency of winter, they scarcely ever fail to go out in summer, to wander about, and pitch their tents, like their forefathers and brethren under the burning sun of India. We may hear them talking in the broadest of our provincial dialects, and presently after muttering words amongst themselves which [pioneering linguist] Sir William Jones pronounced to be pure Sanscrit, scarcely changed in a single letter. . . . Etc. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The middle of the issue has a 2-page article titled The Victoria Regina. The story consists of 95 pages of text, and is illustrated with two attractive woodcuts of these incredible, huge water lilies, which had recently been discovered in British Guiana. Now known as Victoria amazonica, in this article it is called a vegetable wonder, and was originally named the Victoria Regina, and later, the Victoria Regia. The article is based on observations of Waterton, Dr. Hancock, and the botanist who discovered the plant, R. H. Schomburg. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The last page and a half of the paper is an unillustrated article of about 230 lines of text on American Travellers and Travelling. This account first describes the penchant of the people of the United States to move about frequently, followed by comments on various modes of travel they employ. It says, in part: No people in the world are such great travellers as the Americans. . . . I have no doubt that the newness of the country is the primary and chief cause of the erratic disposition of the Americans; and, unlike the inhabitants of older and thickly-settled communities, the great bulk of the rural population is composed of sojourners and wanderers. . . . Where the people are such general travellers, it seems natural to suppose that the facilities for travelling would be very great. This, however, is not exactly so . . . . the roads in general are very indifferent . . . . and, secondly, the majority of the people travel in . . . . one or two-horse waggons, rude as the wilderness they are destined to travel through. . . . On many routes where stage-coaches run there are actually no regular places for the passengers to partake of refreshment . . . . Occasionally you arrive at a section of the road that is considered impassable, even for the strong-springed and stout hickory-built stage-coaches . . . . Travelling upon horseback is not generally resorted to in very long journeys . . . . But steam-boat travelling is the kind above all others patronized by Brother Jonathan's people. Many a time I have been astonished at the crowds upon crowds of steam-boat travellers. . . . Many of the boats are fitted up splendidly . . . . There is another mode of travelling by water, which thousands of the Americans patronize, and that is by their canals. . . . Where the capacity of the canal will admit of it, you find large and commodious boats, well stored with provisions . . . . Railroads, however, are making rapid inroads upon the canal traffic. . . . Etc. ************************************ Background on this publication: The Penny Magazine was a weekly 8-page paper put out by Londons Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Throughout the 1830s, an American edition was very popular in the United States, only to dwindle into extinction during the following decade. The paper did not cover the current news of the day, and carried no advertising. Instead, the Penny Magazine provided excellent essays on a wide array of subjects, such as architecture, science, geography and natural history. The paper was compact in size, and most issues were illustrated with several fine woodcut engravings. 372 [gsp10226] _gsrx_vers_1680 (GS 9.8.3 (1680))
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