Cultivating Bohemianism Among the “Unknown Public”: John Maxwell, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Fanny Braddon, and the Halfpenny Journal

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s personal and professional partnership with publishing entrepreneur John Maxwell began with an ambitious effort to cultivate new audiences for penny magazines. While Maxwell launched several periodicals for working-class readers, the Halfpenny Journal (1861-1865) was the most successful. Applying lessons learned from his tumultuous ownership of the Welcome Guest (1858-1864), Maxwell sought to produce a cheaper, more appealing magazine that would generate buzz and maintain reader loyalty. Mary Braddon, whose flair for the theatrical and the sensational attracted readers, and Fanny Braddon, whose enthusiasm for readers’ queries and contributions enhanced their stake in the publication, worked together to establish an alternative audience of aspiring writers, actors, and artists. This essay focuses on the first year of the magazine during which Braddon’s The Black Band (1861-2) was serialized. This novel set the tone for the engagement with Bohemia as it featured several key characters who were performers and sparked interest in the theatrical professions, which is evident in the correspondence column. Together, these Bohemian characters and the discussion surrounding their careers formed the backbone of the Halfpenny Journal’s fruitful experiment in niche marketing and made Braddon and Maxwell a major power couple in mass-market magazine publishing.