The Gentleman's Magazine and the Growth of Middle Class Involvement in 18th Century English Civilization

FAIN: FR-10280-78

Earl A. Reitan
Illinois State University (Normal, IL 61790-0001)

To explore the emergence of a larger public interested in politics, literature, explorations, history, topography, antiquities, commercial policy, theatre, music, and the arts as opposed to a civilization which was primarily courtly and aristocratic. This growing public (ca 1660) can be called by the term "middle class". The Gentleman's Magazine, which began in 1731, was an 18th century Reader's Digest. This project is to produce a scholarly anthology of the Gentleman1s Magazine, consisting of representative selections and illustrations, with notations.