1880.
George C. Hackstaff & Co., published two numbers of Hackstaff’s Monthly in January and February, 1880. E.P. Wade was the editor. It was devoted to the graphic arts, general literature, the book and paper trade and miscellany. It was illustrated.
(From the Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri by Alexander N. De Menil, 1901)
In January, 1880, appeared the first number of this publication, a handsomely printed monthly devoted to the graphic arts, the book and paper trades, and general literature. It was edited by W.P. Wade, then a prominent lawyer, and a well-known litterateur and law writer…It was illustrated to a limited extent. Among the contributors were Harriet Prescott Spofford, and most of its articles were paid for at liberal rates. The contents were varied and interesting, the literary standard was high, and the publication had certain popular features which promised much for success. The second number (February, 1880) confirmed the excellent impression produced by its predecessor, but it proved the last. Owing to certain difficulties in the way of getting the magazine “handled” by the news companies and by the trade, the publishers (George C. Hackstaff & Co.) became discouraged and abandoned the enterprise, having lost two hundred dollars in the experiment. The project had indisputably many of the elements of success, and deserved a better fate.
(From the History of St. Louis City and County by John Thomas Scharf, 1883).
