Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1843

Subject: Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1843
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Sep 07 - 09:25 AM

I found this by chance when looking for song lyrics. It is incredibly interesting and a true period piece. I'm afraid that the first story 'Perault; or Slaves and their masters' while being prefaced with fine words, is a caricature of the attitudes of the times towards slaves and slavery, and uses the 'N' word a lot. Nonetheless if you bear in mind the the time it was written, it is all very interesting. There are many poems and fragments of collected songs etc. So the whole book is a treasure trove. It even has Burns poems in it.
This is an historic document so please don't judge it by the standards of today.
Enjoy
Giok

Subject: RE: Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1843
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Sep 07 - 07:09 PM

Is there a link to anything about it, online, Giok? It sounds interesting. How did you come across it?

Subject: RE: Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1843
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Sep 07 - 06:28 AM

Tait was an interesting guy. He tried singlehandedly to eliminate prostitution in Edinburgh, with his book "Magdalenism". The problem he found with that book, just as he was about to publish it, was that his documentation was *so* thorough he'd inadvertently created a directory of the city's whores. He had to obscure the data in a hurry.

One interesting anecdote in "Magdalenism" is about the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, the first-ever mediaeval re-enactment event. It was on such a huge scale that most of the prostitutes in Edinburgh went there looking for business and left the city with a serious labour shortage in that department. The madams of the local brothels had to advertise for amateurs (mainly milliners and dressmakers) to step in and fill the gap.

I should hope that modern re-enactment events have enough women participants with a real commitment to authenticity in the role of camp-follower that this wouldn't be a problem today.

Subject: RE: Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1843
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 23 Sep 07 - 06:32 AM

I Googled for a lyric using a few words, and up it popped. There are 2 other years available in pdf format. I am still working on the second one which is dated after the start of the Irish famine, to see if I can find anything in there about that event.
Giok

Subject: RE: Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1843
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Oct 07 - 08:31 AM

Tait's Edinburgh Magazine at Google Book Search. Follow the links on that page to other online editions, or find the book in a library.