Meccano magazines, 1953-56
A small set of Meccano Magazine has just come in, giving us most copies between October 1953 and February 1956. Before this set came our way, we already had a reasonable scattering - about 150 issues for between 1928 and 1972. The format of the magazine was consistent and very distinctive, particularly since it is about A5 in size. It was a monthly, and for all our copies it cost a shilling.
For most boys in the 1950s, this was surely a highly desirable publication. At that price, though, it was surely a middle-class read, available only to those who could afford it. The desire started with the front cover. Always in full colour, this was an illustration of (almost always) something that moved: buses, ships, trains, aircraft, lighthouses, helicopters and so on. The rear cover is in monotone (usually blue), otherwise the content was entirely in black and white. The front cover illustrations look to be by the same artist, who remains unknown, and the subject of the front cover (usually) has no bearing on the content. And talking of content, there are articles on stamp collecting, model train sets, aviation, photography and much more. I was intrigued to see that the October 1953 issue had a short article on an early fax machine, a technology that didn’t catch on until at least the 1980s as far as I remember.
Meccano Magazine appeared first in 1916 and was initially a freebie. It was created by Frank Hornby – he of train set fame – and, as owner of both Meccano and Dinky Toys, had here a very useful advertising base. The magazine survived until 1981.
The ads are wonderful. They include Meccano (as you might expect), Hornby trains and Dinky Toys (as I would now expect, knowing Hornby’s connection), build-your-own kits (miniature steam engines, radios), chemistry sets and more. I note that (almost) all the advertising is separated from the editorial, with the intention that it would be stripped out when you had your copies bound. We’re grateful these were left complete! To finish, I was surprised to see ads for Brylcreem, suggesting to me it was read by older boys too, but clearly ones who still fiddled with their Meccano. But, as a product that ‘gives you the distinctive well-groomed look of a man of affairs’, I don’t think this would have troubled too many of the readers, young lads immersed in their train and chemistry sets.
