"THE SPORTING MAGAZINE" AND ITS ILLUS- 

 TRATED CONTEMPORARIES. 



The very frequent mention of old sporting publications in the 

 preceding pages seems to render desirable some little account 

 of these and their relation one to another. 



The history of the four principal magazines is slightly 

 involved, and thanks are due to Mr. Frederick S. Banks, who 

 stands alone in his knowledge of these old publications, for 

 the following outline of their history. The Sporting Magazine, 

 born in 1792, held its own till 1870, when it ceased ; having 

 twenty-two years previously absorbed the Sporting Review 

 which at different dates had absorbed the Sportsman and New 

 Sporting Magazine. The word "absorbed" is not employed 

 in its strictly literal sense ; when the Sportsman was absorbed 

 by the Sporting RevicK' in 1845 (see diagram on opposite page), 

 publication of the former continued, but its contents were 

 word for word identical with the contents of the Sporting 

 Review. When the New Sporting Magazine was also absorbed 

 by the Sporting Revietv in 1846, publication of the former was 

 continued, but its contents were thereafter word for word 

 identical with the contents of the Sporting Review and the 

 Sportsman. Finally, when the proprietors of the Sporting 

 Magazine bought the Sporting Review in 1848, their purchase 

 included the Netc Sportincj Magazine and the Sportsman, and 

 thence forward four monthly magazines identical in contents, 

 and differing only in title, ran abreast of one another till 

 1870, when they came to a common end. The diagram 

 shows in the simplest form the periods during which each 

 magazine had an independent existence and the dates at 

 which the contents of each became identical with those of a 

 purchasing rival. 



The year i860 had seen the birth of Baily's Magazine of 

 Sports and Pastimes : the Sporting Magazine group of publica- 

 tions continued to compete with this new rival for ten years, 

 when as already stated they came to an end. 



The Annals of Sporting, which was of small size, started in 

 the year 1823 and "died" in the following year after three 

 volumes had been completed. The Sportsman's Cabinet, printed 

 on larger paper than any of its contemporaries, enjoyed an 

 existence even shorter; started in 1832 it came 10 an end in 

 1833, when only two volumes had been completed. These 

 two serials may be thus briefly dismissed, their respective 

 careers having been independent. 



