Prospectus for The New Yorker

Harold Ross, founding editor of The New Yorker, wrote this prospectus for the nascent weekly magazine in 1924. It is the first and only detailed articulation of the editor’s goal and mission. Unabashedly metropolitan since conception, early issues of the magazine espoused the jeu d’esprit of its advisory editors. The misaligned registration of the blue-ink border on the first sheet—featuring an art deco peacock design—suggests that this is Ross’s own print prototype. This unique copy was included among his personal and professional papers when the records of The New Yorker were donated to the Library in 1991.