On October 23, 1858, Henry Clapp, Jr., published the inaugural issue of The Saturday Press.
Clare begins her column with a review of Henry St. John, Gentleman, a novel that she seems, on the whole, to find unimpressive. Clare also feels positive that there are passages in the book which must have been written by a woman. Clare discusses a rumor of a contest at Harper's to award a prize to the most inane submission they received this month. Clare claims that "Armisitice" is the winner, but finds the whole practice of printing poor pieces puzzling. She claims part of her interest lies in the fact that Harper's "Easy Chair" once published an anonymous letter from her on the quality of the pieces they publish. Clare also discusses the general "surprise" at the smaller-than-expected success of the Sicilian Vespers and comments again on her remarks about Beulah. Clare also reviews Sword and Gown, which leads to a lengthy discussion of her opinions on men in the arts and their proper place within this sphere.
Clare references Laura Keene when discussing the types of rewards performers and artists should and should not receive in appreciation for their talents (2).
Clare discusses a reply to her remarks on Beulah in her last column in the Saturday Press (2).
An electronic version of this text was previously available in CONTENTdm and has been migrated to Lehigh University's Digital Collections. Reconstruction of direct links to individual articles is in progress. In the meantime, browse issues of the Saturday Press in the Vault at Pfaff's Digital Collection. Page images of The New York Saturday Press were scanned from microfilm owned by Emory University, which was made from original copies held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
On October 23, 1858, Henry Clapp, Jr., published the inaugural issue of The Saturday Press.
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015