Ladies' World

LADIES' WORLD was another of the low-priced, mass-market magazines aimed at women and their interests. It was begun by S. H. Moore & Co. in New York in 1886 as a "mail-order magazine" published on cheap newsprint. Bought in 1912 by McClure Publications, publishers of McCLURE'S MAGAZINE, it became a full-fledged magazine with some full-color covers by famous artists. Sales reached a million copies a month when a series of mystery stories "What Happened to Mary" became a runaway success in film; this film series is generally considered the first movie serial ever made. The Library of Congress has an incomplete set on microfilm and the publishing data in their catalog says, "Began with 1887; ceased with v. 39, no. 1, June 1918," with publisher listed as S. H. Moore & Co.