Lady With a Past

WHAT IS IT?

This is a leather-bound volume of the 12 issues of Ladies’ Home Journal from 1891.

WHAT’S ITS HISTORY?

Magazines are usually read and then discarded. For this reason, few old ones survive, but those that have are insightful glimpses into the past.

Ladies’ Home Journal launched in December 1883. It was originally an insert in a farm journal. Response from women was so strong that Louisa Knapp, the wife of the first publisher, Cyrus H. K. Curtis, took over the job of editing it as a separate magazine.

During her six years at the magazine, readership grew from 25,000 in 1883 to 440,000 in 1889.

“It was the first magazine to put forth the idea that Americans deserved to own their own homes,” says Kim Fraser of the Ladies’ Home Journal. “House plans by famous architects were even printed in the magazine.”

WHAT’S THE LEGEND?

Carol Shearer of Yorba Linda found this volume in the home of her late uncle. “I just couldn’t throw it away,” she said. “All the pages are amazingly clear. Looking through it, I can see the latest designs for clothing and home furnishings.

“It’s fun to look at the articles and the advertisements. There are ads for entire dinner china sets for $30, Hires root beer, pianos and lots of silk clothing. Every time I go through it I find something new. Subscription rates were $1 a year.”

WHY IS IT POPULAR TODAY?

“[Magazine] collectors want issues that have some meaning to them,” said Randy McDonald, owner of Sandcastle Books in Huntington Beach. “An issue that contained a historical story on something like the Titanic’s sinking would be very collectible.

“Many collectors prize the ads more than anything. For example, they’ll buy copies of old National Geographics so they can frame the Coca-Cola ads on the back. Ads in magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal could be very entertaining and, perhaps, be very interesting framed.”

WHAT’S IT WORTH TODAY?

“There are not a lot of guidebooks [that list values] for bound volumes of magazines,” McDonald said. “Sometimes the publisher bound magazines together because he wanted to unload extra magazines. Sometimes the magazine’s owner bound the copies in leather since in the 1890s it was affordable to do that.

“Individually, the 1890s Ladies’ Home Journals would bring from $15 to $20. Individual copies are worth more than bound volumes, so I’d guess this volume is worth around $100, though something is worth what someone will pay for it. If there happens to be an article or an ad in one of the issues that someone wants, it could be worth more.”

Mason Griffith at Magazine Baron in Anaheim agreed. “We don’t get that many call for Ladies’ Home Journal. Our biggest sellers are movie magazines from the ‘30s and ‘40s and old Playboy magazines.”

WHERE CAN I FIND IT?

There is a price section on magazines in “Antiques and Collectibles,” by Eric Alberta and Art Maier (1998, The Ballantine Publishing Group, $15.95).

An out-of-print book, “The Insiders Guide to Old Books, Magazines, Newspaper and Trade Catalogs” by Ray Reynolds and Ron Barlow (1995, Windmill Publishing, $19.95), is available through Barnes & Noble bookstores.

Web sites with collectible magazines include https://www.antique-hangups.com and https://www.pennantiques.com, although neither site features Ladies’ Home Journal.

* To have an item considered for this column, send information, a photograph of it and a phone number to: What’s It Worth?, Home Design, The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.