Finding a copy of Phil. Mag.

One of the more difficult tasks of a researcher is to find an old article in Phil. Mag. — a journal with a long and complicated history.

It started out as just “The Philosophical Magazine”, founded by Alexander Tilloch in 1798. For a while, it was often called “Tilloch's Journal”, as many early journals were simply referred to by their editors' names. In 1814, it merged with Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts,  and the name changed to “The Philosophical Magazine and Journal”.

The second series, which began in 1827, was subtitled “Annals of Chemistry, Mathematics, Astronomy, Natural History and General Science”. In 1840 it merged with “The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science”, whereupon the name changed to “The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science”. In 1949, the name went back to Phil. Mag. From 1956 to 1977, it was “The Philosophical Magazine: A Journal of Theoretical Experimental and Applied Physics”. From 1978 to 2002 it split into Phil. Mag. A and Phil. Mag. B; then in 2002 it became just plain Phil. Mag. again.

These vicissitudes are chronicled in some detail at Wikipedia, and in the BHL catalog. Notice that “The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science”, which had been formed by the merger of “London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine” and the “Edinburgh Journal of Science” in 1832, was a different  journal entirely. One must be careful in citing these journals.

Series and volume numbers

Phil. Mag. has gone through many series over the years. Here's a table that shows the years they cover:

Series    Volumes   Numbers   From    To
------    -------   -------   ----   ----
   1       1 - 68     1-343   1798   1826
   2       1 - 11     1- 63   1827   1832
   3       1 - 37     1-252   1832   1850
   4       1 - 50     1-333   1851   1875
   5       1 - 50     1-307   1876   1900
   6       1 - 50     1-300   1901   1925
   7       1 - 46     1-383   1926   1955

   8       1 - 24     1-192   1956   1971
   8      25 - 36     1- 6    1972   1977

   A      37 - 82             1978   2002
   B      37 - 82             1978   2002

current   83 - ...            2003    ...

This information is distributed within the Taylor & Francis website, where there is a separate page for each set of issues produced with the same journal title.

Besides all the title changes, notice the discontinuity in issue numbering between 1971 and 1972, when the numbers within Series 8 changed from consecutive numbering of issues within the series to separate numbering within each volume.

Back to the . . .
introduction to the library adventures

or the GF home page

or the website overview page