A Visit with Godey's Lady's Book

I spent time yesterday with the January 1851 issue of the influential and ubiquitous Godey's Lady's Book, a Philadelphia women's magazine that is mentioned over and over again in 19th-century fiction . . . although interestingly, when I told my husband, "I'm reading Godey's Lady's Book!" he had no idea what I was talking about.

I have always thought of it primarily as a fashion magazine, so I was surprised to discover that clothes ("Figs. 3 and 4 are some of the new fashionable undersleeves. It will be noticed that they are very full, and edged with double frills.") and household hints ("The practice of boiling arrow-root in milk is at once wasteful and unsatisfactory.") are merely the frosting on the cake. The journal overflows with poems ("Her eye of blue, like azure sky of clear pure light above, / With soft silk fringes on the lids, shading the deepest love"), stories ("The voice of the speaker sank into a low moan, and was lost in a stifled sob."), musical selections ("We may not on the green-sward dance as in the summertime, / But there our horses proudly prance, as in Arabian clime"), inspirational prose ("The ever-flowing spring, whose heart was never dried up either in summer or winter, had murmured to her of—'Faith.'"), and historical essays ("It is commonly said, and appears generally to be believed by superficial students of history, that with the reigns of the Plantagenets, with the Edwards and the Henrys of the fifteenth century, the age of chivalry was ended, the spirit of romance became extinct.")

Moreover, it includes a very peculiar set of reviews, under the heading "The Editor's Book Table." Here is just a sample of the riches therein.

THE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN MILTON. Edited by Sir Egerton Brydges, Bart. Illustrated with engravings, designed by John Martin and J.W.M. Turner, R.A. We noticed an edition of "Paradise Lost" in our November number. Here, however, we have a complete edition of the modern Homer's works, including "Paradise Regained," and all his minor poems, sonnets, &c. These editions are pleasing testimonials of the renewed interest which the public are beginning to manifest for the writings of standard English authors, in preference to the light and ephemeral productions of those of the present day, who have too long held the classical taste and refinement in obedience to their influences. The illustrations of this edition are very beautiful. [The "light and ephemeral productions" of 1851 include Moby-Dick, The House of Seven Gables, and Cranford.] 

THE RACES OF MEN. A Fragment. By Robert Knox, M.D., Lecturer on Anatomy, and Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Science in France. The character and tendency of this "fragment," or "outlines of lectures," to use the author's own terms, are such as cannot be suddenly determined upon or understood. This will appear the more evident to the reader from the assurance which he also gives, that his work runs counter to nearly all the chronicles of events called histories; that it shocks the theories of statesmen, theologians, and philanthropists of all shades. He maintains that the human character, individual and national, is traceable solely to the nature of that race to which the individual or nation belongs, which he affirms to be simply a fact, the most remarkable, the most comprehensive which philosophy has announced. [Oy.] 

RESEARCHES ON THE MOTION OF THE JUICES IN THE ANIMAL BODY, AND THE EFFECTS OF EVAPORATIONS IN PLANTS; together with an Account of the Origin of the Potatoe Disease, with full and Ingenious Directions for the Protection and Entire Prevention of the Potatoe Plant against all Diseases. By Justus Liebig, M.D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Giessen; and edited from the manuscript of the author, by William Gregory, M.D., of the University of Edinburgh. A valuable treatise, as its title sufficiently indicates. [Who doesn't love a book review that's shorter than the title under review?] 

MOSAIQUE FRANCAISE: ou Choix De Sujets Anecdotiques, Historiques, Littéraires et Scientifiques, tirés pour La Plupart D'Auteurs Modernes. Par F. Séron, Homme de lettres, l'un des rédacteurs du Journal Française; Les Monde des enfans, Revue Encyclopédique de la jeunesse de 1844 à 1848, etc.; Professeur de Langue et de Littérature Française à Philadelphie. This work appears to have been compiled with great care, from works by the best French authors. Every subject has been carefully excluded that could in any manner wound or bias the preconceived opinions of the American reader in relation to religious or political freedom. [Thank goodness none of my preconceived notions will be affected by those crazy French writers.]

In addition, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book takes great pains to remind his readers of their "womanly" status. Here is a snatch of his opinion piece:

The female mind has as yet manifested very little of the kind of genius termed mechanical, or inventive. Nor is it the lack of learning which has caused this uniform lack of constructive talent. Many ignorant men have studied out and made curious inventions of mechanical skill; women never. We are constrained to say we do not believe woman would ever have invented the compass, the printing-press, the steam-engine, or even a loom. The difference between the mental power of the two sexes, as it is distinctly traced in Holy Writ and human history, we have described and illustrated in a work soon to be published. We trust this will prove of importance in settling the question of what woman's province really is, and where her station should be in the onward march of civilization. It is not mechanical, but moral power which is now needed. That woman was endowed with moral goodness superior to that possessed by man is the doctrine of the Bible; and this moral power she must be trained to use for the promotion of goodness, and purity, and holiness in men. There is no need that she should help him in his task of subduing the world. He has the strong arm and the ingenious mind to understand and grapple with things of earth; but he needs her aid in subduing himself, his own selfish passions, and animal propensities.

However, he does go on to assure his readers that "the chivalry of the American press will ever sustain a periodical devoted to woman." What surprises me most in this sentence is that woman is not spelled Woman, a form of address that would seem to more or less sum up his attitude to "the fair sex."