St. Nicholas has been called the best children's magazine ever published, particularly during the tenure of its founding editor, Mary Mapes Dodge. From 1873 to 1905, Dodge worked to create what she called a "pleasure ground" for children--a magazine that would have great impact on several generations of children. The list of authors who wrote for her includes Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Rudyard Kipling, Theodore Roosevelt, and Mark Twain. The quality of the magazine's illustration was equally high. The magazine was also the launching pad for a new generation of authors and artists, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, E.B. White, Jack London, and Eudora Welty. This anthology of critical writing on St. Nicholas includes some of the most influential articles already published and newly commissioned essays on a variety of subjects, including the impact of the St. Nicholas league, the utopian thrust of the magazine's fiction, and the story of the long and productive literary partnership between Dodgeand Alcott. Essays also analyze Dodge's relationship with her readers, her editorial practice, the illustrations, American family life as seen by young British readers, war and military life, advertising, and the middle-class preoccupation with "change of fortune" tales. The work places St. Nicholas in American cultural history, and analyzes how it both influenced and was influenced over thirty years. Essential documentary material presently unpublished or inaccessible and illustrations from the magazine are also included.

Eighty-seven (87) restored and sourced, rare historical illustrations and photographs. A fascinating look into the mind of one of America's first serial killers. Born as Herman Webster Mudgett, H. H. Holmes was a horrific killer featured in Erik Larson's popular book, The Devil in the White City. Holmes built a three story 'Murder Castle' in Chicago in the late 1800s with death on his mind. A doctor by trade, Holmes lured unsuspecting victims into secret rooms, vaults and gas chambers and made use of a dissection table in his basement. He preyed on travelers that came to Chicago for the World Columbian Exposition in 1893 by advertising rooms for rent and offering employment opportunities. No doubt about it, Holmes earned despicable nicknames such as Arch Fiend, Butcher, Modern Bluebeard, Swindler, and Moral Degenerate. Holmes was a monster in disguise as a doctor, a perfect ruse to lure his victims. After all, who would not trust a doctor? Learn what Holmes personality and thought process was like, straight from the mind of a killer. This three-part book includes Holmes' memoir and his confession of twenty-seven murders. It also has details about his death, unusual burial, and an odd story Holmes told about his reincarnation. Notes, illustration credits, and bibliography are included.

Vols. for 1871-76, 1913-14 include an extra number, The Christmas bookseller, separately paged and not included in the consecutive numbering of the regular series.

Vols. 277-230, no. 2 include Stuff and nonsense, v. 5-6, no. 8, Jan. 1929-Aug. 1930.