The following essay discusses Edwin Buckingham and his father, Jospeh Tinker Buckingham.

Joseph Tinker Buckingham was one of the New England breed of poor, self-educated young printers who lifted themselves to eminence in journalism. Like Benjamin Franklin before him and Horace Greeley after, Buckingham learned language and the arts at the printer's case, sought his fortune in the city, and ultimately shed his apron to become an editor and writer--in Buckingham's case, a controversialist of distinct ferocity. He founded a successful newspaper, the Boston Courier, but is better remembered for his role in creating three periodicals: the Polyanthos (1806-1807, 1812-1814), which pioneered in portrait illustration and musical criticism; the New-England Galaxy, a weekly that he edited from 1817 to 1828, frequently fending off libel suits; and the New-England Magazine, a general monthly that he edited with his talented son, Edwin, whose life ended at the age of twenty-two. The last...