Horizon (U.S. magazine)

Horizon was a magazine published in the United States from 1958 to 1989. Originally published by American Heritage as a bi-monthly hardback, Horizon was subtitled A Magazine of the Arts. In 1978, Boone Inc. bought the magazine, which continued to cover the arts. Publication ceased in March 1989. Recently, American Heritage announced its intention to digitize essays from past issues.[1]

For other periodic publications named Horizon, see Horizon (disambiguation) § Periodicals.

Horizon Magazine
The September 1961 issue of Horizon Magazine (Vol. 4, No. 1) included an interview of Andrew Wyeth by George Plimpton.
FrequencyBi-monthly
Quarterly
First issue1958 (1958)
Final issue1989 (1989)
CompanyAmerican Heritage Publishing Company (1958–1978)
Boone Inc. (1978–1989)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
ISSN0018-4977

American Heritage years

The history magazine and book publisher American Heritage began Horizon: A Magazine of the Arts as a hardback bi-monthly in September 1958. The editor was Joseph J. Thorndike Jr., with James Parton as publisher. Contributors in the early years included:

While Horizon remained bi-monthly up to July 1962, volume IV, there was an anomalous volume V that had eight issues. After November 1963, there were only four issues a year, and the magazine changed its issue dates to the current season rather than a month. This is shown in Linda Prestwidge's master table of contents for hard cover Horizon issues in the reference link below. From Winter 1964, volume VI, to January 1977, volume XIX, Horizon produced four issues a year which are still prized by collectors and actively traded on the Internet.[2]

The May 1977 issue contained an insert from the publisher, Rhett Austell, informing the subscribers that Horizon would become a monthly magazine in soft cover.[3] The reason was plainly financial. Horizon was not able to attract enough subscribers to maintain the luxury magazine devoted to the arts and history that had been envisioned by Thorndike and Parton. Austell referred in this insert to "a time of inflationary prices" and announced that Otto Fuerbringer, a former editor at Time magazine, had been hired as editor of Horizon. There was an editorial in this issue describing the changes in the quality of the printing, binding, and content imposed by the shorter time between issues.

The July 1977 issue, volume XIX, number 4, had another insert from the publisher confirming that this would be the last hard-cover issue. The response from the subscribers to the lower quality of printing and binding and a new emphasis on current events was overwhelmingly negative, resulting in the sale of Horizon to Boone, Inc. a year later.

American Heritage also published books under the Horizon name, such as 1961's Horizon Book of the Renaissance, edited by Richard M. Ketchum and written by Plumb, with contributors including Trevor Roper, Kenneth Clark, Iris Origo and Jacob Bronowski. (OCLC 283425).

Boone years

In December 1978, publication of Horizon moved from New York City, New York, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the magazine changed to a softcover format, published monthly. The new owner was Boone Inc., with editor and publisher Gray D. Boone. Contributors included Robert Joffrey, Alan Rich, Lanford Wilson, Ray Bradbury and Brendan Gill. Publication ceased eleven years later, with volume 32, number 2, March/April 1989.

References
  1. "Help Us Digitize this Beloved Magazine of Arts and Culture". HorizonMagazine.org. American Heritage Publishing.
  2. Horizon Magazine master table of contents. See: ISSN 0018-4977.
  3. Horizon, volume XIX, number 3, American Heritage Publishing Co., New York, 1977.
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