Exact Editions specialises in making, maintaining and completing digital archives for magazines. Every magazine worthy of the classification ‘periodical’ will have a ‘first issue’ — the concept only becomes problematic or fuzzy when a magazine changes its shape, name or remit in radical ways so that it is hard to determine where/when/whether the ‘first’ issue appeared. Exact Editions’ doctrine holds that archives should, if possible, include the first issue and all subsequently published issues, and if the archive is complete — which it will not be if the stream of issues published is ‘ongoing’ — then the last or most recent issue should be there at the end. We are averse to publishing archives with obvious gaps and have a strong preference for completion — so that the reader or searcher has access to all the content that is published.
So first issues should be looked for as foundations in the building of digital archives. It may even be difficult to track down a copy of the first issue. Cupboards may be ransacked. Readers may be asked for help. Very few copies may have been printed; if the magazine has been published for many years, perhaps the print archives have been lost or damaged, or the title has been absorbed in another publication. In that case the first issue will be especially valued and appreciated by loyal readers and any extant copies will be kept and guarded by the publisher. Having it digitally preserved is extremely reassuring.
Magazines in print form usually require considerable investment in development, design and distribution. So they tend to be ‘launched’ — a revealing choice of language — requiring as they do an editorial heave and a splash of publicity. In most cases the appearance, the design and the editorial content of the launch issue will be highly revealing of the expectations and goals of the founding editor and publisher. So there would be some enjoyment in exploring a Reading Room which consists of 40 first issues from magazines on the Exact Editions platform.
These ‘launch issues’ were followed up by ranks of weekly, monthly, quarterly current issues. The Guards Magazine is the oldest archive in this group — marching on parade since 1862 with 674 issues under its belt. In contrast the largest archive, measured by the number of issues, is a trophy won by Autocar with a stack of 6,722 issues. Using the Exact Editions Reading Room technique we can take a thumbnail and searchable view of the most recent issues of all 40 titles. Here is a link which will be viewable and searchable until 1 April 2027 for these 40 titles.
The screen images below contrast the set of ‘launch issues’ with the front covers of the ‘most recent issues’ as of the writing of this blog. The composition of this second collection changes on a weekly or daily basis as new issues for the magazines appear. Periodicals do change and their databases grow and deepen, which becomes a key asset when culture and their audience becomes digital.
