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Men Only

C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd., Pearson's Buildings, Henrietta Street, London, W.C. 2


Men Only was founded in December 1935 explicitly for men. The first editorial stated: Until to-day, every magazine published in this country has been produced with at least one eye on the woman reader. We, on the other hand, are not interested in women readers. We don't want women readers. We won't have women readers.

The magazine didn't initially contain any photographs, only cartoons, a few of which were printed in colour. The text was generally serious: Winston Churchill contributed an article to the issue of July 1936 on The Battle of Sidney Street and there was an article in the same issue by Evelyn Waugh on the Egyptian city of Port Said.

The first issue of the magazine contained a simple humorous cartoon by Blampied and a reproduction of a lithograph of dogs, though slightly different from the published print. His work appeared in six issues in 1936, including a cover design for the Christmas number, but that was the last until after the Second World War and his involuntary internment in Jersey. Men Only was one of the few periodicals that Blampied continued to contribute to after the war, and four cartooons have been found in three issues between 1946 and 1949. Not all issues published after the war have been searched; the cartoons have been found while browsing issues of the magazine found in bookfairs. They are quite common. Although the magazine was still quite innocuous in the late 1940s, when it reproduced a few monochrome pictures of semi-naked women, the title is on restricted view at the Bodleian Library in Oxford University, and I had to view the pre-war issues under supervision in the Rare Books Room.


Image of cover

The cover of the Christmas issue, December 1936, by Blampied


Published: Monthly from December 1935 to April 1954, when it merged with London Opinion.

Price: 1 shilling in the 1930s; 1/3 in 1946; 1/6 in 1949.

Numbering: Volume of 6 issues, all issues sequentially numbered

Pages: 160 pages in 1936; fewer after the war.

Dimensions: 190 x 128 mm, with yapped covers

Editor: Not known

Printer: Hazell, Watson & Viney, Lyd., Aylesbury.

Blampied issues: 10

Type: MO = monochrome drawing; CO = colour drawing; the number indicates the number of drawings or pages.



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— 1935 —


Issue: Dec-1935, vol. 1, no. 1, page 58. Price: 1/-. Type: MO1. Title: The Master Mounts.

Image of cartoon

Issue: Dec-1935, vol. 1, no. 1, page 115. Price: 1/-. Type: MO1. Title: The Two Coves.

[This cartoon is almost the same as a published lithograph of the same title published, I think, in 1933. The main difference is that the dog in the background does not have a walking stick under his arm. See the image to the right. How could he leave the house without it?]

Image of cartoonImage of lithograph


— 1936 —


Issue: Jan-1936, vol. 1, no. 2, page 17. Price: 1/-. Type: CO1. Title: L for Learners and L for leather.

Image of cartoon


Issue: Feb-1936, vol. 1, no. 3, page 37. Price: 1/-. Type: CO1. Title: The Meet.

Image of cartoon


Issue: Jun-1936, vol. 2, no. 7, page 85. Price: 1/-. Type: CO1. Title: Being and undertaker, I never discuss religion.

Image of cartoon


Issue: Jul-1936, vol. 2, no. 8, page 18. Price: 1/-. Type: CO1. Title: Flutterbies.

Image of cartoon

Issue: Jul-1936, vol. 2, no. 8, page 38. Price: 1/-. Type: MO1. Title: Pouring out the regiment's tea.

Image of cartoon


Issue: Dec-1936, vol. 4, no. 13, Christmas Number, page Cover. Price: 1/-. Type: CO1. Title: None.

Image of cover


— 1946 —


Issue: Aug-1946, vol. 32, no. 129, page 22. Price: 1/3. Type: MO1. Title: Tall stories at the Ostrich Farmer's Club.

Image of cartoon


— 1947 —


Issue: Jan-1947, vol. 34, no. 134, page 17. Price: 1/3. Type: CO1. Title: County!.

Image of cartoon

Issue: Jan-1947, vol. 34, no. 134, page 92. Price: 1/3. Type: CO1. Title: In high feather.

Image of cartoon


— 1948 —


Issue: Mar-1948, vol. 37, no. 147, page 73. Price: 1/6. Type: CO1. Title: Try a little cotton wool in his ear.

Image of cartoon

— 1949 —


Issue: Oct-1949, vol. 42, no. 166, page 40. Price: 1/6. Type: CO1. Title: The Pink Rat.

Image of cartoon