In searching for a definition of what constitutes a “little magazine,” the editors state that for their purposes it is a publication that “contains or concerns itself with poetry”. Like most of the titles included in their bibliography, it may have a limited circulation and a brief life and may appeal to a small, specialized readership. The book under review also includes more conventional periodicals like Criterion, Scrutiny, Horizon and Encounter – “The Waste Land,” the key English‐language poem of Modernism, appeared in the first of these (which was edited by T.S. Eliot). The Poetry Review began in 1912 and is still published. But magazines like these are the exceptions in the extensive listings that Miller and Price provide.
Altogether 1,971 magazines are included, divided into five periods, covering the years from 1914 to 2000. An introductory survey to each period places the magazines in their historical and literary contexts. Each title is fully annotated with information on editors, contributors and library holdings. The details of library holdings are especially useful since so many of the magazines are elusive. I am pleased to come across odd copies in the trays outside second‐hand bookshops since they so often contain poems and articles that are original, stimulating and occasionally eccentric. Adam, to mention only one, is almost always rewarding, especially for its European perspectives.
They are important in the history and appreciation of literature in English because they reflected and formed social, cultural and literary trends. Consider what the editors tell us about those that came out in the middle of the twentieth century. In those published in the 1940s Miller and Price note the flourishing of the so‐called new apocalyptic poets (influenced by Dylan Thomas), the relocation of British poets overseas, the welcome given to American poetry and the growth of regionalization at the end of the decade. Although there was an apparent decline in the numbers of magazines that were issued in the 1950s, some carried on for many years and in the pages of some these “a series of new English avant‐gardes was emerging.” But this was the decade when the poets of the Movement began their dominance of the English poetry scene. As we would expect, experimentation was even more prominent in the 1960s. An increased number of the magazines disseminated “the work of experimental or exploratory American and European poets – Black Mountain, New York School, and Concrete poets, amongst others – often alongside their British counterparts”. Remarkable titles were dreamed up – Fishpaste, Gaga, Greedy Shark, Olive Dachsund, to choose a few at random. On the other hand, the uncompromisingly plain title of The Review, edited by Ian Hamilton, which began in 1962 and continued as The New Review, signified a sober, serious commitment to the highest standards of poetic practice and principles.
The index of names includes the names of nearly every twentieth‐century poet of note as well as the names of obscure writers (whose contributions might well be worth looking up). Some more or less began their writing careers in the little magazines – Philip Larkin had a poem in Phoenix: A Magazine for Young Writers around 1940 and Seamus Heaney made an early appearance in Gorgon (which he edited) in 1961. Then there were the editors, who encouraged new poets as well as celebrating established writers: Geoffrey Grigson (in New Verse), John Lehmann (in Penguin New Writing), Tambimuttu (in Poetry London) Alan Ross (in The London Magazine) and William Cookson (in Agenda) are just a few of these. Recent evidence of the way a little magazine and its editor could be a stimulating medium came in a British Library exhibition in early 2007 presenting the Migrant, which under the editorship of Gael Turnbull and Michael Shayer printed innovative British and American verse in 1959‐1960. Turn to Miller and Price's entry on the Migrant and you will find the necessary background information, including library holdings.
For library holdings throughout the bibliography, the editors have used the catalogues of the British Library, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland, Trinity College, Dublin, and the Little Magazines and Small Press Collection in University College, London. They acknowledge the rich resources of the Poetry Library, but (as far as I could see) do not give its location. The geographical, subject, name and title indexes are comprehensive and accurate. A Timeline lists “notable magazines which started in a particular year” and so gives a concise overview of the most important material. The 32 illustrations include Henry Moore's cover for the November‐December 1948 number of Poetry London and a David Jones cover for a 1967 number of Agenda. This bibliography, handsomely produced, is a remarkable achievement and will surely prove to be an indispensable resource.
