The Story of The Strand
By Chris
Willis
In the first issue of the Strand
Magazine, published in December 1998, English writer
Chris Willis wrote an article looking at the history of
the Strand. It is reprinted here in its entirety). Chris
Willis passed away at the age of 43 last
year)
Not many
magazines can count Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill
among their former contributors. However, both
contributed to the Strand at different times during its
history It was after all, one of the best and most
popular magazines of its time.
For sixty years
(1891-1950) The Strand Magazine was a popular source for
the best in fiction, featuring the works of some of the
greatest authors of the 20th century including Graham
Greene, Agatha Christie, Rudyard Kipling,
G.K.Chesterton, Leo Tolstoy, Georges Simenon and, of
course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Founded by George
Newnes in 1890 and edited by H Greenhough Smith from
1891 to 1930, the Strand aimed at a mass market family
readership. The content was a mixture of factual
articles, short stories and serials most of which were
illustrated to some extent. Despite expense and
production difficulties, Newnes aimed at having a
picture on every page - a valuable selling point at a
time when the arts of photography and process engraving
were in their infancy. "A monthly magazine costing
sixpence but worth a shilling" was the slogan the
publicity-conscious Newnes used to advertise the Strand
- which was half the
price of most monthlies of the
period.
When the first Sherlock Holmes short
story -"A Scandal in Bohemia"- was published in the July
1891 issue of the Strand Magazine, circulation rose
immediately. Arthur Conan Doyle had already published
two full-length Holmes stories, A Study in Scarlet and
the Sign of Four, neither approaching the success of the
short stories which were to follow. Indeed, when The
Sign of Four was published in book form in 1890, the
Athenaeum commented that "Dr Doyle's admirers will read
the little volume through eagerly enough, but they will
hardly care to take it up again". However, within two
years, the combination of Sherlock Holmes and the Strand
had made Conan Doyle one of the most popular authors of
the age. Fifty-six Holmes stories appeared in the
magazine from 1891 to 1927, many of them illustrated by
Sidney Paget's now famous drawings.
In his
autobiography, Memories and Adventures, published in
1924, Doyle revealed that he had written the Holmes
short stories with a view toward establishing himself in
the Strand. He recalled that "A number of monthly
magazines were coming out at that time, notable among
which was the Strand, under the very capable editorship
of Greenhough Smith. Considering these various journals
with their disconnected stories it had struck me that a
single character running through a series, if it only
engaged the attention of the reader, would bind that
reader to that particular magazine ... Looking around
for my central character, I felt that Sherlock Holmes,
who I had already handled in two little books, would
easily lend himself to a succession of short
stories".
Conan Doyle was to prove one of the
Strand's most popular (and prolific) contributors. From
mid-1891 until his death in 1930, there was scarcely an
issue which did not contain at least one of his stories
or articles. The serialisation of The Hound of the
Baskervilles in 1901-1902 was estimated to have
increased the magazine's circulation by 30,000-with
Conan Doyle being paid L480 - L620 per episode. The
Strand also published Conan Doyle's historical fiction
such as Rodney Stone and The Adventures of Brigadier
Gerard. An illustrated interview with him in 1892
included a postscript by Conan Doyle's former teacher,
Joseph Bell, the supposed 'original' Sherlock
Holmes..
The Strand's popularity grew alongside
Conan Doyle's, and in the ensuing years it included in
its pages the works of several other great authors.
During its sixty history the Strand was host to a wide
array of short story fiction from writers such as W.W.
Jacobs, P.G. Wodehouse, H.G. Wells, and W. Somerset
Maugham. Continuing the tradition started by Doyle, the
Strand also became a source for new detective fiction
from authors such as Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham,
E.C. Bentley, Edgar Wallace, Dorothy L. Sayers, and
Georges Simenon. Factual reports from distinguished
contributors were regularly featured as well. A sketch
Queen Victoria had drawn of of one of here children was
published (with her permission) in the Strand
.
Wartime hardships hit the Strand Magazine hard.
Paper was rationed, and the size of the magazine had to
be decreased. Costs rose, circulation fell, and the
magazine never recovered. By 1950, the magazine needed a
quarter of a million pounds to put it back on its feet.
The owners saw no hope of raising the money, so in March
1950 The Strand was forced to stop
publication.
After nearly half a century the
Strand has returned. Contributors to this first issue
include distinguished crime writers as well as
lesser-known authors. With its distinguished tradition
behind us, we hope to live up to the high standards set
by the original Strand , providing a source for some of
the best writing of the twenty-first century.
THE
END
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