The Yachting Monthly, January 1938

[Mirelle]

Yesterday in my doctor's waiting room I picked up a copy of what I thought was Yachting Monthly (I am a subscriber) and only when I put it down did I realise that I had been glancing through "Sailing Today".

Honest.

I have just picked up a copy of the Yachting Monthly for January 1938, printed in black and white with a two colour HR Etheridge drawing of a schooner on the front cover.

What do we find?

22 pages of advertisements

A Robert Groves pencil and wash drawing of boats in mud berths as the frontispiece

A two page editorial on hydrodynamics and modern yacht fittings.

Two pages of "artistic" photographs and a Winston McGoran woodcut.

Two articles, total 10 pages, on cruises to Norway and Holland.

An article on "Improvements to yacht gear", 3 pages, describing the pulpit, the snap shackle, and mainsail tracks.

A Leslie Wilcox pen and wash drawing.

5 pages by Conor O'Brien on ketch rig.

4 pages of boat review, with lines plan.

4 pages on comfort in small yachts, by FB Cooke

5 pages on copper sheathing.

2 pages of argumentative column, by "Canvas"

6 pages on inshore racing

3 pages on offshore racing

2 pages on battery maintenance

4 pages of reviews of a motor cruiser, an Evinrude outboard, and an hydraulic gearbox.

3 pages on Thorneycrofts.

3 pages of book reviews

5 pages of boat reviews, with lines and sail plans

A "Letter from America" - 2 pages

5 pages of reader's letters, some very erudite.

15 pages of "Around the Coast" , "Loose ends" and Club notes.

They typesetting, layout and appearance of the whole magazine is superb.

This magazine was put togther by a staff of four people.

Could IPC please tell us why they now find this impossible to achieve?

I have no idea how a cover price of 2shillings (10p) relates to the present cover price "in real terms", but today's rag is pathetic by comparison.

 

[Boatman]

Have to agree, you have listed about 100 pages, current versions certainly have more than 22% advertisements, and not as many informative articles.

I can't wait to see the responces

 

[ToMo]

Does the word "avarice" mean anything to you?....its been the prime mover in humans since the begining of time!....generally speaking it doesn't apply to the rest of the animal kingdom, but similar cause and effect are noticed in other primates after interaction with us!

 

[Jeremy_W]

Cheaper now

Two shillings in 1938 was worth £4.78 in 2001. Whisper this, it may give YM ideas.
BTW is that the copy of YM with the review of "Mirelle"?

 

[Guest]

Was your misspelling of "responces" a Freudian or a typing slip?

 

[Guest]

In 1938 2/- was worth £4.78 in todays prices.

Interesting conversion tool at:
http://www.eh.net/ehresources/howmuch/poundq.php







Humperdinck

Email: HJ@Seacracker.org
Website: www.seacracker.org

 

[claymore]

Hm, an interesting and thought provoking post.
Initially, I'm concerned over your confusion between YM and ST. Is this related to the condition for which you first visited the Doctor and do you feel he has prescribed a suitable tincture to relieve your symptoms?

My other observation is that the original editorial staff - are we talking of people such as Bernard Hayman, were very greedy and lacking in any sense of a long term strategy. It doesn't take a high intellect to deduce that by filling the early magazines with such content, they would quickly say all that needed to be said and leave future generations of readers (us) with little but adverts, interminable articles on the S.E. an editorial column of such perception that it could have been written by the family cat and the quasi-masochistic ramblings of Cunliffe. Add to that the inevitable picture of the three stooges sat at the obligatory saloon table in the latest boat-test, Libby's personal competition to write a full side of A4 and there we have it. I once wondered whether if it changed to Yachting Quarterly it might become a 4 times better read - don't know whether we could risk it though!!

regards
Claymore

 

[Mirelle]

Better value then.

Yes. She is the third boat to be reviewed in depth in that issue. The others are a big motor-sailer and a 7 tonner.

I would not mind at all paying Pds 4.78 for a magazine of that quality - tasteful cover, easy to read rather than "busy", properly written articles for all levels of knowledge and interest (rather than simply preaching to beginners who may or may be reading the magazine!) and, most remarkable of all, I thought, the original drawings and woodcuts - a real delight - any of them worth framing.

 

[AndrewB]

Cheaper now?

I reckon its about the same price. The Office of National Statistics long-term consumer price series (see http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/TSDtimezone.asp, series mm23) gives an inflation factor of 39.3 between 1938 and now, ie. 10p then = £3.93 now.

I did a similar analysis to AC-B a little while back. YM was cheapest in real terms in the late 70's, when it was about 2/3rds the present price in real terms, for a similar sized issue. In cost per word of content, it was only a third the price of present-day issues.

While the ratio of advertising to editorial has stayed roughly the same, in these older issues the advertising was entirely for yachting-related goods and services, arguably part of what the purchaser would be looking for; whereas now a large proportion is for cars, properties, booze ... and IPC advertising itself!

 

[Mirelle]

The Editor then was Maurice Griffiths, profiled recently in Dick Durham's biography, "The magician of the swatchways", and he found time to edit the magazine, cover the America's Cup races, write book, design boats and be one of the founders of the Little Ship Club.

 

[claymore]

Of course - should have known that

regards
Claymore

 

[Guest]

As much as I enjoy receiving YM it doesn't take me long to read, and after a while I tend to discard the mag unless it has some useful or pertinent articles. However, my other subscription, Classic Boat, I have kept since 1989. Although not as comprehensive as the 1938 YM the articles, and info, definately have substance, and the ads are relevant to the content.

 

[jollyjacktar]

And all without the aid of a computer!!!

And all without the aid of a computer in 1938, and set with linotype. And we are led to believe that all electronic gadgetry saves time and improves the quality of life. That does not compute.