Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July 1851

I think I would have liked periodicals like this. I love that it is mostly essays and stories, but they cover various subjects. Though I really only skimmed through the issue (it's so long compared to modern magazines!), I saw different types of stories- short ones a page or less, on- going ones in with chapters in the thirties, and an autobiography- and essay topics ranged from politics to astronomy to giraffes (I've been told that this is around the time giraffes were discovered, but still, it made me laugh to be skimming and skimming and then come across "A Chapter On Giraffes"). Though these are what made up the majority of the content, there were also some informative sections (statistics, eclipse dates and explanations, etc), a short editorial type section, and a small bit of fashion. I find this length and variety much more appealing than today's extremely short, very focalized magazines. I may pick up and issue of Scientific American or Scientific American Mind every so often, but I find they cost too much money for half an hour of reading.