J. C. Squire, founder and editor from 1919 until 1934 Wikimedia Commons
The London Mercury was a monthly publication founded in 1919 by the English writer and editor John Collings Squire (1884–1958),[1] who edited the magazine from its inception until 1934. Its ambition was to fill a gap in the literary magazines market, fostering the teaching of English and appreciation of the arts.[2]
Popular during much of the 1920s, the magazine’s circulation went into decline before its editorship passed to the journalist and literary critic Rolfe Arnold Scott-James (1878–1959) in 1934. Squire’s editorial stance had been rather conservative and very anti-Modernism, but Scott-James switched the magazine’s focus towards the work of more progressive authors such as Mervyn Peake and W. H. Auden.[1]
The magazine purchased its smaller rival, The Bookman, in 1934, but ran into financial difficulties a few years later. The last issue of The London Mercury was published in April 1939, after which it was absorbed into Life and Letters Today.[2]
We use cookies to optimise our website and our service. By clicking on “All cookies”, you consent to us using all cookies and plug-ins as described in our Cookie policy.
Functional cookies
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
