The Lady's Realm

The Lady's Realm

Vol. 9, no. 54 of The Lady's Realm (1901)
Editor	William Henry Wilkins (1896–1902)
First issue	November 1896
Final issue	October 1914, possibly 1915
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Lady's Realm was a British women's magazine published from 1896 until 1914, possibly until 1915. It primarily targeted upper-class readers as well as an aspirational middle-class audience, featuring photographs, poems, fiction, and columns by popular authors such as Marie Corelli, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jack London, and H.G. Wells. The London Season was regularly covered, with visuals of significant society figures and débutantes appearing. Fashion trends in Paris and London were frequently discussed as well, particularly by its fashion editor Marian Pritchard.

The publication's targeted reader was the "New Woman", with enlightened ideas on education, health, independence, and employment. More successful than many of its contemporary publications, the magazine sold reasonably well in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. It was a staple of women's reading rooms in public libraries, which were widespread across the UK. Relatively little is known of The Lady's Realm's publishing history, as many records were destroyed during the London Blitz. Its end may have been due to the First World War.

Relatively little is known of The Lady's Realm's publishing history, as many records of its publisher, Hutchinson, were destroyed during the London Blitz. The first issue was published in November 1896. Its first editor was William Henry Wilkins, a mildly successful novelist who oversaw the publication's editing from 1896 to 1902. Though inexperienced, Wilkins was acquainted with society, being a friend of such figures as the explorer Richard Francis Burton and his wife Isabel Burton. After Wilkins' death in 1905, The Lady's Realm wrote of how "the general public are little aware how much of [the magazine's] early success" was due to him, and that "not a few [contributors who] have since made their names in the world of letters have to thank him for placing their foot on the first rung of the ladder". Wilkins' successor as editor is unknown, though Margaret Versteeg and colleagues, who produced an index of the fiction published in The Lady's Realm, detect no changes in editorial judgement in the magazine's tenure after 1902. While the publication mainly featured women writers and feminine topics, all of its editors, most likely, were men.