In this chapter I have placed Skilling-Magazin at a historical and geographical crossroads, between the Northern Enlightenment and nineteenth-century mass publishing. Like the Gutenberg centenary which opened this chapter, Skilling-Magazin contains both past and future, the local and the transnational.
The publishers and readers of Skilling-Magazin were literary citizens of Europe. Skilling Magazin was a part of a Europe-wide transnational literary network that shaped its content and its format. Its format mirrored the Penny Magazine and similar magazines across Europe, and many of the texts and images were brought in from these periodicals. In the 1830s and 1840s the magazine even ordered wood engravings from engravers in London and Paris. This transnational network extended to its readers as well. Readers of educational illustrated periodicals all over Europe not only expected the images from these illustrated periodicals to look a certain way but also to a large extent looked at the same images. In being part of this transnational network of editors, engravers, writers and readers, Skilling-Magazin can be seen as a part of an emerging modern mass culture in the nineteenth century.
At the same time, however, its local context and connection to a Norwegian state-supported enlightenment made the Skilling-Magazin a different kind of publication. Penny Magazine and its competitors were pioneers in applying new technology and organisation to increase circulation. Skilling-Magazin, meanwhile, was printed on simple wooden presses long into the 1850s. It was part of a Norwegian book and periodical business that looked more like what we associate with the eighteenth century than the nineteenth century. Skilling-Magazin was also connected to a state-supported enlightenment in nineteenth-century Norway. This can be seen as a continuation of particular aspects of the eighteenth-century Northern Enlightenment.
These enlightenment ideals were also expressed in the reception of the magazine. But while aspirations were high, there are indications that perhaps the magazine was not as popular among the intended audience – the common people – as the editors and had hoped. However, while it is easy to dismiss the Skilling-Magazin as an elite project, the fact that it proved long-lasting also points to a genuine appeal. In its reception we also find reminders that printed texts and images can be appropriated and used in many ways. Skilling-Magazin thus not only represents a historical and geographical crossroads but can also represent the dual nature of the enlightenment project.