THE NEW VOLUME by Editor

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 1, 1880

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 1

THE NEW VOLUME.

By Editor

In the last number of the REVIEW we promised to extend a New Year's Greeting to our growing family of subscribers by Jan. 1, 1880. We did not then anticipate that we should fulfill this promise to our readers in the improved form and enlarged size in which we come to them this week.

These changes will be a surprise to nearly all our readers, and the question will at once suggest itself why something was not said in reference to them in our last issue. It was because, as above stated, we did not then ourselves know that they would be made, as no plans had been laid concerning the new volume in this respect. But perhaps the want of more space in the REVIEW was never more severely felt than at the close of the last volume, Dec. 18. When, therefore, in the interval between the volumes, we began to canvass the question how greater interest and efficiency could be given to the paper, the question of an enlarged size first came up for solution; and after careful and mature deliberation by the Trustees, it was decided to adopt the improvements which we are happy, though with such apparent abruptness, to present to the reader this week.

Our paper now corresponds in size of page, as the reader will perceive, to such popular journals as the N. Y. Independent, Harper's Weekly, and The Household, while in size of page, and the number and width of columns to the page, it corresponds to such journals as the Christian Union, Christian at Work, Christian Woman, The Advance, and The Scientific American, the form and make-up of which meet with such general favor.

Enlarging the paper to sixteen pages makes it the largest journal in this country, if not in the world, devoted to expositions of prophecy, the signs of the times, the second coming of Christ, and kindred themes, and gives space for a great variety of reading matter on subjects of importance and interest. The departments we design to maintain, most of them continuously, others occasionally as passing events may demand, are as follows:—

1. The Sermon; 2. Our Contributors; 3. The Watchtower; 4. Educational; 5. Historical; 6. Sabbath-School Department; 7. Missionary Department; 8. Progress of the Cause; 9. The Commentary; 10. The Family Circle; 11. The Casket; 12. Notes of News; 13. Appointments; 14. Publishers' Department; 15. Editorial.

Our former readers will at once perceive the advantages and the increased interest which the added departments will give. The Missionary Department will furnish opportunity for the prompt and regular publication of missionary reports and other matter pertaining to that branch of the work. The S. S. Department will enable teachers and others to speak of the progress and interests of this important enterprise. The Educational Department will appeal to the friends of education and of our College. The Historical will give such items of history as show the fulfillment of prophecy, to which the general reader may not have ready access. With the other departments, our readers are already more or less familiar.

But with all this increase of size and amount of reading matter, no addition is made to the price; and that we can claim for the REVIEW that it is the cheapest religious paper published in the country; for we shall still exclude advertisements, with the exception of our own publications, and devote the entire paper to fresh reading matter every week. Larger journals devote so much of their space to advertisements, a source of great income to the publisher, that they either give no more, and frequently less, reading matter than the REVIEW proposes to give, or they have a higher subscription price, or increase their income in both these respects. But with the increased subscription list which we expect, partly as the result of these improvements, the REVIEW will be able to furnish its patrons an amount of matter at a price which will compare favorably with that of any other journal in the land.

It is unnecessary to try to enumerate all the attractive features which the new volume will present; but we cannot forbear to mention that Bro. and Sr. White, by whose pens the columns of the present number are so largely enriched, design to write more for the paper in the future than during some volumes in the past.

We think all will be pleased with this new departure, and will feel more than ever that the REVIEW is a paper for which they can work with interest and energy. The editors will try to do their part; and we confidently ask of all that which, if bestowed, we shall with gratitude receive,—their co-operation, sympathy, and prayers.