For over twenty years Isabella Alden and her husband edited a children’s magazine called The Pansy.
Each issue was filled with inspiring stories, delightful illustrations, short poems, and descriptions of exotic and far-away places to spark children’s imaginations. Published by D. Lothrop and Company of Boston, the magazine was first produced as a weekly publication, and later changed to a monthly.
Editing and writing for the magazine was no easy undertaking and Isabella’s entire family pitched in to help.
Pick up any issue of The Pansy and you’ll find stories by Isabella’s sisters, Julia Macdonald and Marcia Livingston, or her best friend, Theodosia Foster (writing as Faye Huntington).
Margaret Sidney, famous for the Five Little Peppers books for children, published some of her books as serials in The Pansy, as did author Ruth Ogden. Even Isabella’s brother-in-law Charles and beloved niece Grace Livingston (before her marriage to Reverend Frank Hill) contributed stories.
Isabella’s son Raymond wrote poems, and her husband Reverend Gustavus “Ross” Alden contributed stories and short homilies like this one:
Sometimes, the family banded together to write stories for the magazine. In 1886 each family member—Isabella, Ross, Marcia, Grace, Raymond, Theodosia, and Charles—took a turn writing a chapter of a serial story titled “A Sevenfold Trouble.” In 1887 they continued their collaboration by writing a sequel titled, “Up Garret,” with each writer again producing a different chapter. In 1889 the combined stories were published as a book titled A Sevenfold Trouble.
Isabella also previewed some of her own books by publishing them as serial stories in the magazine. Monteagle and A Dozen of Them first captured readers’ hearts in the pages of The Pansy.
The magazine was a resounding success. Thousands of boys and girls from around the world subscribed. Many children grew to adulthood reading the magazine, as Isabella remained at the helm of The Pansy for over 23 years.
Isabella Alden 
I would be very happy to buy copies of these magazines and books if there was someone willing to reprint them. Think of all the Christian families that would love this type of material.
I agree, Barbara! The magazine had so many wonderful stories that children (and adults) can enjoy and learn from. Unfortunately, they’re getting harder and harder to find, especially the early issues. —Jenny
Barbara,
We have seven (7) issues of “The Pansy Magazine” (1888) available at Rose City Books at https://www.rosecitybooks.com/the-pansy-magazines for only ranging from $10, $15, or $17 each. We are having an additional 20% off sale on our entire website. Rare hard-to-find early issues of the magazine! 🙂
I have an original copy of The Pansy dated July 1890. I would like to know the value and who I might contact for more information.
Thank you,
Terry Landry
Terry, I’m not an expert, but I’ve collected most of the magazine’s issues. Single issues, especially those dated in the 1890s, sell for about $20 to $25 on websites like ebay.com and AbeBooks.com. I hope this helps; if you have other questions I’ll do my best to answer them! —Jenny
I have The Pansy 1890 Dec.No. “Wide Awake” 100pages. What would this be worth? Alot of great stories.
I’m not an expert on value, Sammy, mostly because I think every issue is priceless! 😀 I regularly shop sites like ebay.com and AbeBooks.com for copies of both magazines, so you might check them for issues similar to yours to see the going price. Good luck! —Jenny
I found a book of issues of The Pansy dated 1892-93. Is anyone interested?