The Gentleman's Magazine was the leading eighteenth-century periodical. By integrating the magazine's history, readers and contents this study shows how 'gentlemanliness' was reshaped to accommodate their social and political ambitions.

Gillian Williamson's fascinating book offers a sustained and detailed study of the Magazine's readership and its changing ideas of the gentleman, from its foundation by Edward Cave in 1731 to the aftermath of Waterloo in 1815. the Gentleman's Magazine had been an aspirational publication for the 'middling sort', in which readers from the mercantile and professional classes fashioned the figure of the gentleman in their own image. (Caroline Gonda, The BARS Review, Issue 49, 2017)

Autorentext
Gillian Williamson read Classics at the University of Cambridge, UK, and worked as a corporate finance adviser in London. She returned to academic study after editing a lottery-funded local history book, and also contributed to The Victoria History of Essex: Newport (2015).

Inhalt
Introduction

1. Gentlemanly Masculinity
2. The History of the Gentleman ' 's Magazine, 1731-1815
3. Readers and Contributors
4. Gentlemanly Masculinity in the Gentleman ' 's Magazine, 1731-1756
5. Gentlemanly Masculinity in the Gentleman ' 's Magazine, 1757-1789
6. Gentlemanly Masculinity in the Gentleman ' 's Magazine, 1790-1815
7. Conclusion