Archives & Library – La Magasin Méthodiste Des Iles De La Manche

The OCMCH has recently acquired two copies of La Magasin Méthodiste des Iles De La Manche, or the ‘Methodist Magazine of the Channel Islands’, for August 1887 and September 1891. The magazine was founded by the lay preacher Jean de Quetteville in 1817, and was published monthly until 1901. These copies join a small collection of this publication held by the Centre dating back to the 1850s.

As noted by the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine for January 1867, La Magasin Méthodiste des Iles De La Manche contained ‘biographies, choice stories, and religious intelligence’. This included information gleaned from other Methodist publications, as well as articles of particular interest to Channel Islanders, such as extracts from the journal of Jean de Quetteville for the 1830s, which appeared in the issue for August 1887. The reverend Matthew Gallienne of Guernsey acted diligently as editor for over thirty-five years, during which time the magazine was a leading Methodist periodical in the French language, offered for distribution throughout the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, as well as other francophone regions such as France, Switzerland, Canada, Nova Scotia and Haiti.

The OCMCH Archives & Library hold many early regional Methodist publications from the eighteenth century onwards, which are available for consultation in the Centre reading room upon appointment.