Brontë juvenilia: 'Blackwood's Young Men's Magazine'

Description

Written in minute characters in imitation of print, this tiny book is the December 1829 issue of Blackwood’s Young Men’s Magazine which Charlotte Brontë and her brother Branwell produced when they were teenagers. The initials 'U T' found in the index signify Us Two, i.e. Charlotte and Branwell.

Like others in the series, this miniature magazine is hand-sewn with brown sugar-paper covers. It is the last of six issues from the siblings' magazine series, with the first issued for August 1829. Between August and December 1830 Charlotte renewed a second magazine series under the adapted title, The Young Men's Magazine.

Containing prose fiction and poetry, the Blackwood’s Young Men’s Magazines were created for the fictional Glass Town Federation. The four Brontë children were inspired to create the fictional kingdoms and characters after Branwell was given a box of 12 toy soldiers by his father shortly before his ninth birthday. Each issue contains lists of contents and carries advertisements just like the real books and magazines that they were inspired by, such as Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.