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1873 – 2023
SUMMARY
■TTJ launched in 1873 ■An annual subscription in the 1880s was 9s 6d
■A prime function of the magazine was as a shipping bulletin
■In the Second World War the trade came under government oversight
■Ecuadorian balsa was used in the Mosquito fighter bomber
TTJ I PRESUME This year marks another major milestone in TTJ’s history. Mike Jeffree reports
There have been many memorable moments in my near 30 years with the TTJ. But a favourite – and one that probably said most about the TTJ – has to be my Dr Livingstone-esque experience in 2010 in Peninsular Malaysia.
I and a dozen other journalists from the European timber trade media were on a ‘familiarisation visit’ to get to know the country’s industry. We’d travelled to a remote forest station and were welcomed by its head in his crisp khaki uniform. Scanning the group, his eyes fixed on me and he cried ‘Mike Jeffree, Timber Trades Journal!’, much to my and the other journos’ surprise. He then reached a copy of the TTJ from a shelf, opening it at the editor’s comment page with my picture. It brought home to me just how widely known and read the TTJ is. So how has it got its far-reaching reputation? It’s partly the fact that the UK is among the world’s biggest timber importers, sourcing wood globally. Consequently TTJ developed an international following among suppliers keen to keep up with developments in a highly lucrative export destination. Being the only European timber trade title in English as its first language no doubt also helped, as did the fact that, serving a country that was home to some of the world’s leading importers, it took an international perspective, albeit from a UK angle. Then there’s the absolute bedrock of its worldwide recognition. The TTJ is tried and tested. It’s been doing its job for a very long time. In fact, this year we celebrate 150 years of continuous
publication. That makes it among the oldest trade publications anywhere. TTJ first hit the Victorian streets in May 1873. For history buffs, that was just two years after Stanley met Livingstone. Other news in our launch year included the Panic of 1873, an economic crisis that triggered six years of downturn. Queen Victoria met the Shah of Iran on his state visit and there was the first football international to be held in the US. Harvard University beat Eton 2-1. It was the year the Winchester rifle and barbed wire were patented and ‘Home on the Range’ was top of the pops.
But the big story for us started in an office off Fleet Street. It was late April and TTJ’s first editor was finalising the first edition and penning his first editorial to introduce the new magazine to a waiting timber world and explain the rationale for its launch. “The large number of class organs render it imperative for a fresh candidate to state the reason bringing it into existence,” he wrote. “Careful enquiries lead us to entertain a confident opinion that the Timber Trades Journal will supply a want long and deeply felt by this trade and fill a vacuum in the press which, considering the vast interests involved in timber, seems unaccountable. “It is strange that trades of which wood is the chief staple, who spend 15 millions sterling on imports, independently of home produce, and, whose invested capital would be difficult to estimate, have been without any special organ to communicate and promote their interests.”
The TTJ became a weekly in 1880, but started as a fortnightly, charging 9s 6d for an annual subscription. Value for money, then as now! Likewise a page advert at £5 5s. In its early years a prime function of the magazine was as a shipping bulletin. It listed just-landed cargoes and those which had just departed ports worldwide en route to the UK. The magazine developed a network of correspondents in key supply regions, including Africa, North and South America. TTJ’s strapline today is ‘The Voice of the Industry’, and its role as a forum for the trade to express opinions and highlight issues goes back to the start. And the views of some commentators were pretty trenchant. For instance in 1896 our South African correspondent commended UK importers for being cautious in accepting untested sources of supply.
“Buyers are taunted with being conservative with respect to new marks and shippers,” he wrote. “But they should remain true to these principles until new shippers can guarantee their goods are equal in classification to well-known brands.” Again, as today, TTJ followed latest technical developments. The first edition included pieces on ‘resistance of woods to torsional strain’ and on ‘iron versus wooden ships’.
As now, the magazine’s focused international readership made it a valuable advertising medium. Some claims for technology in the pre-Advertising Standards Authority 19th century seem a bit of a ►
www.ttjonline.com | July/August 2023 | TTJ
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