The First Literary
Journal for Women

The Lady's Magazine, and Repository
of Entertaining Knowledge. . . .
Philadelphia: W. Gibbons, 1792-93
Rare Book & Special Collections Division
Transfer, 1880

The editors of this journal for women published in the United States promised to provide a variety of prose and poetry to "inspire the FEMALE MIND with a love of religion, of patience, prudence, and fortitude." The plan was to publish a volume of a least 300 pages every six months, including reviews of new literature, and summaries of foreign news. This frontispiece of the first issue, engraved by James Thackara and John Vallance, honored Mary Wollstonecraft by depicting the "Genius of the Ladies Magazine" presenting Liberty with a copy of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the cornerstone treatise on women's rights.