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'''Tatler''' is a contemporary British society magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It carries articles on a broad range of topics, but its primary focus is on social trends amongst the very wealthy and aristocratic. ''Tatler'' is currently edited by Geordie Greig, who was previously the literary editor of the Sunday Times. ''Tatler'' is named after Richard Steele's paper of the same name in the early 18th century which he co-founded with Joseph Addison after meeting at Charterhouse School

Contents

History

The modern magazine

Writers

Notes

External links

History

The original ''Tatler'' was founded in 1709 by Richard Steele, who used a nom de plume of "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire", the first such consistently adopted journalistic ''persona'',^[1] which adopted in the first person, as it were, the seventeenth-century genre of ''"characters"'', as first established in English by Sir Thomas Overbury and soon to be expanded by Lord Shaftesbury's ''Characteristics'' (1711). Steele's idea was to publish the news and gossip heard in London coffeehouses, hence the title, and seemingly, from the opening paragraph, to leave the subject of politics to the newspapers^[2], while presenting Whiggish views and correcting middle-class manners, while instructing "these Gentlemen, for the most part being Persons of strong Zeal, and weak Intellects...''what to think.''" To assure complete coverage of local gossip, a reporter was placed in each of the city's popular coffeehouses, or at least such were the datelines: accounts of manners and ''mores'' were datelined from White's; literary notes from Will’s; notes of antiquarian interest were dated from the Grecian Coffee House; and news items from St. James’s.
In its first incarnation, it was published three times a week. The original ''Tatler'' was published for only two years, from April 12, 1709 to January 2, 1711. A collected edition was published in 1710–11, with the title ''The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.''.
Three months after the original "Tatler" was first published, Mary Delariviere Manley, using the pen name "Mrs. Crackenthorpe," published what was called the "Female Tatler." However, its run was much shorter: the magazine ran for less than a year--from July 8, 1709 to March 31, 1710.

The current publication, named after Steele's periodical, began publishing in 1901. For some time, a weekly publication, it was filled with news and pictures of high society balls, charity events, race meetings, shooting parties, fashion and gossip. Cartoons by "The Tout" and H. M. Bateman were featured regularly. From the 1940s until the early 1960s, the then-weekly magazine was entitled ''Tatler & Bystander'' (after absorbing ''The Bystander'').^[3] In March 1968, the "Bystander" was dropped from the magazine's title, and it began to publish monthly.

The modern magazine

Editor Geordie Greig recently gave an interview in which he said that reading Tatler should be "like a fabulous journey in an incredible sports car ... you can go fast, you can go round the bend, you can go a bit mad, you can have pretty girls in it, you can stop at stately homes as well as go round to Monte Carlo. It should be a journey of speed and surprises". [1]
The magazine also throws a number of large parties throughout the year. The two most important are the Tatler Summer Party, and the Tatler Little Black Book Party. The Tatler Little Black Book is an annual list published by the magazine of the country's 100 Most Eligible Men and Women.
The Bystander section is now made up primarily of photographs of a small number of exclusive private parties. This section is edited by Tatler's social editor, Clare Milford Haven (the wife of the Marquess of Milford Haven) and by the photographer Hugo Burnand.
There are also ten Tatlers in Asia - Hong Kong Tatler (launched 1977), Singapore Tatler (launched 1982), Malaysia Tatler (1989), Thailand Tatler (1991), Philippine Tatler (2001), Korea Tatler (November 2001), Indonesia Tatler (2000) and Beijing Tatler and Shanghai Tatler (2001). The Asian Tatlers are now owned by the Swiss based Edipresse Group (www.edipresse.com). There is also an Irish edition called Irish Tatler. Russian version of Tatler is due to come out in February 2007.

Writers

A number of famous people have worked on the magazine, in both of its incarnations:
'18th century:'


★ Jonathan Swift

★ Joseph Addison
'Modern magazine:'


★ 'Geordie Greig' - Editor

★ 'Ahlya Fateh' - Managing Editor

★ 'Chloe Brook' - Acting Managing Editor

★ 'Gerri Gallagher' - Associate Editor

★ 'Pedro Simon' - Creative Director


★ 'Millie Simpson' - Picture Editor

★ 'Camilla Long' - Features Director

★ 'Kate Bernard' - Features Editor


★ 'Tom Parker Bowles' - Food Editor


★ 'Ahlya Fateh' - Managing Editor


★ 'Vassi Chamberlain' - Features Editor-at-Large


★ 'Kate Chapple' - Chief Sub-Editor


★ 'Charlie Anderson' - Fashion Director


★ 'Anna Bromilow' - Senior Fashion Editor


★ 'Antonia Whyatt' - Health and Beauty Director


★ 'Olivia Falcon' - Beauty Editor


★ 'Emily Compton' - Social Editor


★ 'Lee Pears' - Senior Designer


★ 'Nicola Formby' - Chief Contributing Editor


★ 'Emma Parker Bowles' - Contributing Editor (Motoring)


★ 'Lord Frederick Windsor' - Contributing Editor (Music)


★ 'Tom Wolfe' - Contributing Editor


★ 'Ann Caruso' - Contributing Editor


★ 'Tessa Dahl' - Contributing Editor

Past writers:


★ 'Isabella Blow' - Contributing Fashion Editor-at-Large


★ 'Clare Milford Haven' - Social Editor

Notes

1. Bonamy Dobrée, 1959. ''English Literature in the Early Eighteenth Century 1700-1740'' in series Oxford History of English Literature, pp 77-83.
2. ""principally intended for the Use of Politick Persons who are so publick-spirited as to neglect their own affairs to look into Transactions of State."
3. Galactic Central Publications: Magazine Issues

External links

★ Official Website

★ History of the "Female Tatler" published in the 18th Century

★ 'The Entertaining Mr Sloane: An Interview With Geordie Greig', The Observer, 1st May 2005

★ ''Literary Encyclopaedia'': The Tatler

★ (An 1899 reprint of the first 49 Issues of the 1709 ''Tatler'')