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The Magnet

The Magnet was first published in the 1908 and continued until 1940 when it became a casualty of the paper shortage of the Second World War.

In 1976 Howard Baker published the Concise Magnet Companion compiled by Bill lofts and edited by George Beal. This book not only contains details on every issue of the Magnet ever published but also includes details of the Editors, Sub writers, reprints and Howard Baker facsimile volumes. A new and updated version was published in 1986 and you can view it here.
An earlier Magnet catalogue was published sometime in the fifties by some prominent hobbyists of the time- D Webster, R Whiter and R Blythe. Thanks to Naveed you can find it here.

Roger Jenkins wrote a number of excellent articles for the Collectors Digest Annual. They were subsequently reprinted in the History of the Magnet and Gem published by the Museum press. You can read the articles via the links below-

Red Magnet Magic The early days of the Magnet from 1908-1915

Those Blue and White Magnets A wartime shortage of the famous red dye meant from 1916-1921 the Magnet was white paper with a simple blue dye.

Magnets of the Roaring 'Twenties During the period 1922-1929 Hamilton started spending less time on the Gem and more on the Magnet - and it showed!

The Golden Age of the Magnet The title sums it up, 1930-1934 are generally believed to be the best period for the Magnet.

The Autumn Years of the Magnet From 1935-1937 the Magnet was still excellent but not generally regarded as quite up to the standard of the Golden years.

The Decline and fall of the Magnet Roger expressed some regret in a later article about his choice of this title. However there is no doubt that the stories of 1938-1940 lacked some of the sparkle of previous years. 


Other Magnet related CD Articles-

Wingate in Love. An article from the 'lets be controversial' series by Eric Fayne discussing the 'Wingate in love' series from 1920.                     

 

SCANS

All the Magnets have now been scanned and are available for download via the links below. All issues are available in PDF format and many are now available in Ms Word and Kindle format. I've recently updated this section to include information on HB reprints etc. If you find any errors or incorrect links then please contact me.

   1908  Issues 1-46    1918  Issues 517-568    1928  Issues 1038-1089    1938  Issues 1559-1611
   1909  Issues 47-98    1919  Issues 569-620    1929  Issues 1090-1141    1939  Issues 1612-1663
   1910  Issues 99-151    1920  Issues 621-672    1930  Issues 1142-1193    1940  Issues 1664-1683
   1911  Issues 152-203    1921  Issues 673-725    1931  Issues 1194-1245  
   1912  Issues 204-255    1922  Issues 726-777    1932  Issues 1246-1298  
   1913  Issues 256-307    1923  Issues 778-829    1933  Issues 1299-1350  
   1914  Issues 308-359    1924  Issues 830-881    1934  Issues 1351-1402  
   1915  Issues 360-411    1925  Issues 882-933    1935  Issues 1403-1454  
   1916  Issues 412-464    1926  Issues 934-984    1936  Issues 1455-1506  
   1917  Issues 465-516    1927  Issues 985-1037    1937  Issues 1507-1558  

 

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