First magazine ever

I decided to find, what magazine was as first in the world ever. What do you think? 

I though that first one could be sometimes in 19th century. But I was really wrong and suprised by my search results!

Here we go:)

Really really first magazine was at 1663. The world's first magazine – Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (translation: Edifying Monthly Discussions) – was published in Germany. But I haven’t found more information about this, so let’s go to the first famous world magazine.

Edward Cave

 It was at 1731 a and its name is The Gentleman’s magazine.

This magazine was edited by Edward Cave. He edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban. The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London in January 1731. Edward was the first who use the term "magazine" (from the French magazine, meaning "storehouse") for a periodical.

The original complete title was The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Trader's monthly intelligencer.

Cave's innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic the educated public might be interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry. 


First regular employment as a writer was Samuel Johnson. During a time when parliamentary reporting was banned, Johnson regularly contributed parliamentary reports as "Debates of the Senate of Magna Lilliputia". Though they reflected the positions of the participants, the words of the debates were mostly Johnson's own.

Cave, a skilled businessman, developed an extensive distribution system for The Gentleman's Magazine. It was read throughout the English-speaking world, and continued to through the eighteenth century and much of the nineteenth, under a series of different editors and publishers.

It declined in tnineteenth century, and finally ceased general publication in September 1907. However, issues consisting of four pages each were printed in very small editions between late 1907 and 1922 in order to keep the title formally "in print". So this magazine ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years.

Timeline of The Gentleman’s magazine

• 1731–1735 The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer
• 1736–1833 The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle
• 1834–1856 (June) New Series: The Gentleman's Magazine
• 1856 (July)–1868 (May) New Series: The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review
• 1868 (June)–1922 Entirely New Series: The Gentleman's Magazine

Download real pages on this link! Here you can read this magazine from 1731 till 1750.

The iconic illustration of St John's Gate on the front of each issue (occasionally updated over the years) depicted Cave's home, in effect, the magazine's "office".

Resources:

http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/MagazinesHistory.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman%27s_Magazine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Cave.jpg