The Germ, British Library Copy

This is the British Library copy of the first edition of The Germ, the periodical launched by DGR and some friends in 1850 for disseminating the work and ideas of the initial Pre-Raphaelite circle. Only four numbers were published (January, February, March, and May, 1850).

The most useful commentary on the periodical is still the 1901 Preface written by WMR for the facsimile reprint of The Germ .

The first number appeared in 1 January 1850 with Holman Hunt's etching (700 copies printed; 50 had etchings on India paper). Only 70 were sold. The second issue appeared on 31 January (500 copies printed, 40 sold by 9 February). Number 3 appeared on 31 March, number 4 on 30 April (print runs for both are uncertain, and apparently only 106 copies of number 4 were sold). The poor sales forced the journal to close down. Most of the expenses for the financial failure of the magazine were born by George Tupper.

After the fame of the PRB was established, The Germ was reprinted first by Thomas Mosher (1898: Portland, Maine) and again as a close facsimile in 1901 with an introductory “Preface” by William Michael Rossetti giving historical and bibliographical particulars about the magazine. A recent reprint was put out by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (1992), with a Preface by Andrea Rose.

Each of the four issues began with an etching, a device that clearly established the artistic focus of the journal. The gothic types that were used for the cover sheets (which also served as title pages) and for the printed texts also contributed to the tone if not the arguments of the work. These types seem reminiscent of the Puseyite or Tractarian movement and locate the work's spiritual inspiration in an earlier, medieval world.

Of first importance is WMR's Preface to his 1901 facsimile reprint of The Germ. Only slightly less important is Fredeman's edition of The P.R.B. Journal, and Holman Hunt's recollective Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and WMR's PRDL. See also

• James Ashcroft Noble, “A Pre-Raphaelite Magazine,” Fraser's Magazine (May 1882), 568-580.