Published in 1737, this is the bound leather Volume VII of the Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle published in London by Edward Cave - pen name Sylvanus Urban. It contains the monthly issues of 1736. It was the first general periodical published in England, and the first to use the name "Magazine". "Magazine" at that time was a term for a military storehouse of weapons. This publication was a storehouse of articles from a number of different periodicals on a wide variety of subjects. Each issue contains account of what was happening in Parliament, a section of essays "controversial, Humorous and Satirical, Moral and Political, collected in Part from Public Papers", letters to the Magazine,  poetry, a listing or prominent births, marriages deaths and bankruptcies, prices of goods, stocks , numbers of deaths and a register of books published. There's an index for the year for the parliamentary articles and essays, another for poetry and for names in the births, deaths marriages and bankruptcies section.  There are also reviews of plays and a lists of plays current in London. The historical section offers news for each day of the months from different parts of the country. The essays  vary greatly from recipes for varnishes, to a gentleman's disgust at the cruelty in a country hunting party to a plea to repeal the laws against witchcraft to  complaints about women's fashions.  Many are about religion - one in several issues and continued into the next year is a complex argument between two authors about the make up of the world before and after Noah's flood. The volume's one illustration is a before the flood world map  showing one man's theory that all of the land was in one huge continent.The parliamentary section has long discussions on the Test Act, which requires candidates for office to support the Church of England and decry the 'Papists", The Gin Act which restricted the sale of liquor, and an act that would have excused the Quakers from paying tithes to the Church of England. There are also pages of statistics on  funds provided to the military, on exports of various commodifies, and on the duties charged on goods (including slaves) sent to the American and Caribbean colonies.  The magazine was published from 1731 til 1922.