The Original British Idler

Look at the Writers

The original The Idler monthly magazine was first published in 1892 and came to an end along with civilisation as we knew it in 1911. What contributors! Jerome K. Jerome of Three Men in a Boat and Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow fame was editor and staff writer; and the magazine published pieces by such luminaries as Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Aleister Crowley and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Free Offer

Did you know it is possible to get your kidskin-gloved hands on a few free copies of the original The Idler magazine?

Project Gutenberg — founded in 1971 as a US-based volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works — has reproduced copies of The Idler from 1893 (links below). And in the age of the tablet and reader, these are now super easy to download and peruse. It would be nice if someone could bind them into a print version though, with something like the original cover (above) in a nice green buckram.

The magazines are a delight to read. I was going to reproduce an essay on the Boat Race in the March issue — Experiences of a 'Varsity Oar (illustration below) — in time for this year's race, but left it too late.

Links

• The Idler, Volume III., February 1893
• The Idler Magazine, Volume III, March 1893
• The Idler Magazine, Volume III, April 1893
• The Idler Magazine, Volume III, June 1893
• The Idler Magazine, Vol III. May 1893
• The Idler Magazine, Volume III., July 1893

Feel free to use the Comments section to mention a favourite article from these magazines. 

And don't forget the contemporary Idler.