Pegasus, Vol. 1, No. 3 (May 1923)

Open this May 1923 issue of Pegasus and the contents begin making their own introductions. It contains 20 named pieces or sections, beginning with Echo by Dorothy Page, Conundrum by Helene Mullins, and Lavation by Helene Mullins. That opening offers a direct path through the issue, but it is not the only one. A reader can follow the printed order, pause over a familiar contributor, or start with a title that catches the eye. No special background is needed. The magazine explains itself gradually through the choices it makes and through the company each piece keeps.

By May, Pegasus has widened its field without losing its compressed lyric manner. Short poems by Helene Mullins and Howard McKinley Corning sit beside longer meditations by Dorothy Page, Genevieve Manchester, H. Thompson Rich, and others; city architecture, California flora, weather, and memory repeatedly meet in miniature forms. The number also adds reviews and a prize announcement, signs that the magazine was trying to participate in a literary culture beyond its own pages. The named form Wind Song sits beside shorter songs and descriptive lyrics, making the issue’s craft visible in rhyme, stanza, and carefully managed closure. That combination gives the San Diego number a regional modernity of its own: harbor, desert, city, and intimate address enter print through inherited forms being adjusted to Western subjects.

The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, In Passing by H. Thompson Rich changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Spider Web Island by W. H. Lench. The works differ in length, subject, and manner, yet their placement creates connections that a simple list of names cannot show. The pleasure comes from those changes. A short piece can clear the air after a longer one, a new voice can redirect the mood, and an unexpected title can make an earlier page look different when the reader thinks back to it.

The contributor list includes Dorothy Page, Helene Mullins, Harry Noyes Pratt, Charles Howard Marsh, Howard McKinley Corning, Charl Nolan, Genevieve Manchester, and Ruth Clay Price, along with 8 additional contributors. Some readers will arrive looking for a particular name; others will meet these contributors here for the first time. Either approach works. The publication details add useful context: the issue was edited by W. H. Lench, published by W. H. Lench, and issued from San Diego, California. A journal is also a made object, assembled by people deciding what to print, how to order it, and which voices should share a number. Reading from beginning to end lets those choices appear naturally.

The catalog subjects—Los Angeles literary culture, American poetry, and Little magazines—are useful starting points, especially for searching, but they do not set limits on what a reader may find. For a first visit, begin with Echo by Dorothy Page, turn next to In Passing by H. Thompson Rich, and finish with Spider Web Island by W. H. Lench. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 16 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 26 PDF pages. It keeps the contents in a stable, legible form and makes names and titles easier to find. A source facsimile remains part of the project’s private editorial record, but it is not included in the public upload. What appears here is the reading copy: a practical way to spend time with the issue and discover which pieces invite a return.