La Belle Assemblée
Encyclopedia
La Belle Assemblée was a British women's magazine published from 1806 to 1837, founded by John Bell
(1745–1831).
The magazine was published as La Belle Assemblée from 1806 until May 1832. It became The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée from 1832 to 1837. After 1837 the Belle Assemblée name was dropped and the magazine merged with the Lady's Magazine and Museum in 1837 to become The Court Magazine and Monthly Critic. It was published by John Bell from 1806 until his retirement in 1821, and by G. & W. Whittaker & Co. from 1823–1829. Between these dates the magazine was listed as "Published for the proprietors".
La Belle Assemblée is now best known for its fashion plate
s of Regency era styles, but until the 1820s it also published original poetry and fiction, non-fiction articles on politics and science, book and theatre reviews, and serialized novels, including Oakwood Hall by Catherine Hutton
. Other notable contributors to La Belle Assemblée include Mary Shelley. Contributions from readers were also encouraged and published.
In the 1820s, changing expectations of the role of women in British society coincided with a marked decrease in the intellectual scope of La Belle Assemblée and its competitors, which increasingly focused on fashion and domestic pursuits.
Similarly titled fashion publications included The Penny Belle Assemblée or Maids, Wives and Widows’ Gazette of Fashions (1830s), the Weekly Belle Assemblée, and its successor the New Monthly Belle Assemblée (1847–1870).
John Bell (publisher)
John Bell was an English publisher. The Dictionary of National Biography has Charles Knight calling Bell a "mischievous spirit, the very Puck of booksellers." His 109-volume, literature-for-the-masses Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill, which rivaled Samuel Johnson's Lives...
(1745–1831).
The magazine was published as La Belle Assemblée from 1806 until May 1832. It became The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée from 1832 to 1837. After 1837 the Belle Assemblée name was dropped and the magazine merged with the Lady's Magazine and Museum in 1837 to become The Court Magazine and Monthly Critic. It was published by John Bell from 1806 until his retirement in 1821, and by G. & W. Whittaker & Co. from 1823–1829. Between these dates the magazine was listed as "Published for the proprietors".
La Belle Assemblée is now best known for its fashion plate
Fashion plate
A fashion plate is an illustration demonstrating the highlights of fashionable styles of clothing. Fashion plates are not depictions of specific people, but are instead generalized portraits, meant only to dictate the style of clothes that a tailor, dressmaker, or store could make or sell, or to...
s of Regency era styles, but until the 1820s it also published original poetry and fiction, non-fiction articles on politics and science, book and theatre reviews, and serialized novels, including Oakwood Hall by Catherine Hutton
Catherine Hutton
Catherine Hutton was an English novelist and letter-writer.Born in Birmingham, the daughter of historian William Hutton, Hutton became a friend of the scientist and discoverer of oxygen Joseph Priestley and the novelist Robert Bage...
. Other notable contributors to La Belle Assemblée include Mary Shelley. Contributions from readers were also encouraged and published.
In the 1820s, changing expectations of the role of women in British society coincided with a marked decrease in the intellectual scope of La Belle Assemblée and its competitors, which increasingly focused on fashion and domestic pursuits.
Similarly titled fashion publications included The Penny Belle Assemblée or Maids, Wives and Widows’ Gazette of Fashions (1830s), the Weekly Belle Assemblée, and its successor the New Monthly Belle Assemblée (1847–1870).