MagSampler

These are "Reports from the Newsstand," my comments on the publications in our catalogue at MagSampler.com. We offer sample copies of our publications, not subscriptions. Each sample copy costs $2.59, well below newsstand cover prices (if the publication is available on your newsstand at all). A $2.00 shipping charge is added to each order. Publishers use MagSampler.com to get their publications into the hands of potential subscribers.

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Ed Rust, proprietor of MagSampler.com, has worked in publishing in a variety of capacities for decades. He started as U.S. circulation director of the Financial Times "way back when they flew the papers into Kennedy Airport from London a day late." He most recently was managing editor of publications at the General Society, Sons of the Revolution.

Monday, January 29, 2007

ANTIQUES AND THE ARTS WEEKLY: Huge, Eclectic


We've received a supply at the MagSampler.com newsstand of last week's Antiques And The Arts Weekly, a very impressive publication from The Bee Publishing Company in Newtown, Connecticut. It's a large tabloid newspaper of 160 pages, each 11 by 16 inches, and crammed with articles, pictures and advertisements about art, antiques and collectibles of all kinds. It's a prodigious ongoing publishing achievement!

A lengthy article starting on the front page of that January 19 issue provides an appropriate introduction to the world of serious collecting. It's about a new book, Expressions of Innocence and Elegance: Selections from the Jane Katcher Collection of Americana. Jane Katcher is a Florida-based radiologist who's been collecting American paintings, weathervanes and other folk art for years. The book explains how she got interested in the subject, where and how she accumulated her impressive collection, and of course offers lavish illustrations of the objects themselves.

I can imagine Dr. Katcher and other collectors spending happy hours devouring the contents of Antiques And The Arts Weekly, scanning its articles and ads for news of upcoming auctions and gallery exhibitions, reading reports of prices gained at completed auctions, and exploring all sorts of tangents leading from their main interests to other areas.

While the editorial content and advertising in the publication focus on the Northeastern United States―from New England down through New York―there's substantial national and international coverage as well. For instance, there are a couple of articles, and more than 20 photos, from a huge antiques fair held in December at a former RAF base in Newark, England.

The variety of objects discussed or advertised in the pages of Antiques And The Arts Weekly is wide indeed. In this issue I found Marilyn Monroe's autograph on a letter accepting the terms of her first radio appearance in 1947; a circa 1765 Philadelphia Chippendale chair that was given by Benjamin Franklin to his daughter; a monumental four-piece bedroom set that measures 10.5 feet in height; a collection of old patent medicine bottles from the 19th century (contents included); an on-line auction of artifacts from Harry Houdini and other classic magicians; and autographed palm prints from Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Babe Ruth. Great Men just don't do that anymore.

While some of the wares on sale in the publication are eclectic, they're never cheesy, and many major art galleries advertise in its pages.

The large-size pages make for hefty postage bills for the publisher, but they permit many illustrations in both editorial and advertising. The quality of the pictures is, of course, limited by the use of newsprint.

An annual subscription to Antiques And The Arts Weekly (52 issues) is a bargain $74.00 from the publisher. We'll be happy to send you a sample copy for $2.59.

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