Invalids Magazine Album

The Invalids Magazine Album was edited by the sisters Gladys E. Dickinson (1885-1979) and Violet A. Dickinson, daughters of a dealer in oriental porcelain, who lived in Hampstead, the Isle of Wight and Little Bower Farm at Molash near Canterbury.

The enterprise was highly organised: with the involvement of subscribers and contributors, an album of stories, poems, pictures, and literary criticism was created every couple of months. The sisters, Gladys and Violet Dickinson, acted as editors, as well as contributing material themselves. They apparently took over from their friend Lettice Pelham Clinton. The albums were called the I.M.A. (Invalids Magazine Album), and the two editors laid down strict rules about deadlines for articles and subscriptions, and particularly for how long readers were allowed to keep them before sending them on the next subscriber.

As laid down in November 1903:
1) All members must be invalids, or delicate, and need only contribute 3 times a year.
2) Anyone may have the magazine sent to them on payment of 1 shilling and 6 pence a year, towards expenses. They need not then contribute.
3) Anyone else may belong, if they will contribute to every number, they will be called contributors.
4) Everyone else, whether Members, Contributors, or Subscribers, MUST OBEY the following rule - Everyone may keep the magazine for 2 days, inclusive of day of receipt. They must then forward it to the next address on the Postal List, having first voted for their favourite contributions, and written dates of receipt and despatch beside their name and address. They must also send a post-card to the Editor, to notify her of these dates, as that is the only way in which the magazine can be traced if lost.
5) If the magazine is kept over time, a fine of 1 pence per day will be imposed.
6) Everyone is asked to criticise, on the pages set apart for criticisms. (non members may criticise also).

The albums were posted to subscribers, not just locally in Hampstead, the Isle of Wight or Somerset, but also to Cornwall, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Scotland, Ireland and even, at one point, to Dresden in Germany. The magazine was so popular with contributors that in 1904 they decided to split it into two parts - a senior and junior version which would go out alternate months. Violet remained as senior editor, and Gladys became editor of the Junior IMA.

Contributors include:
'Vita';
Dickinson, Cedric;
Dickinson, Frank Leslie;
Dickinson, Gladys Evelyn;
Dickinson, Violet A.
Dicksee, Amy;
Dicksee, Dorothy;
Dicksee, Harold J.H.
Dicksee, Maurice;
Dicksee, Phylis M.
Dohrman, John;
Dohrman, Margery;
Duke, Kathleen (Kittens);
Elmsall, Gertrude;
Finnemore, Elaine;
Finnemore, Ethelwyn;
Finnemore, Gordon;
Finnemore, Hilda;
Fitch, W.E.
Hart, Dick;
Hillyard Swinstead, Eulalia;
Hillyard Swinstead, Valerie;
Hoste, Daisy;
Hoste, Pansy;
Hoste, Violet;
Huxham, Gertrude;
Lanyon, Doctor;
Lely, Effie;
Lely, Eileen;
Lely, Enid;
MacKintosh, Will;
Miller, Alice;
Nicholson, Alianor (Pussums);
Pelham Clinton, Lettice;
Pollexfen, Ruth;
Rogers, Hetty;
Shead, Beatrice Irene (Queenie);
Skinner, Lionel;
Snell, Hester;
Starke, Oscar;
Storer, Violet;
Straith, Eileen L.
Thompson, Gwen;
Touch, Edith M.
Trendelburg, Paul G.
Vaughan Stevens, Dudley;
Vaughan Stevens, Muriel;
Vaughan Stevens, Ruth;
Walker, B.E. Rain;
Warren, Miss;
West, Eric;
Young, Madelaine.