Read +120 years of Horse & Hound in new online magazine archive

Horse & Hound has partnered with digital archive specialists Archive Digital to make decades of the magazine’s back catalogue available to subscribe to online.

Issues from the magazine’s launch in 1884, until September 2012, are available to read at The Magazine Archive with a subscription to this archive. Current Horse & Hound magazine subscribers can subscribe at a reduced rate – as well as accessing all digital editions of the magazine from September 2012 onwards in the H&H app as part of their subscription.

Archive Digital has previously produced digital archives of some of Horse & Hound’s sister titles including Rugby World and Golf Monthly, but none with such a vast number of volumes as Horse & Hound’s 140-year-old title.

H&H editor-in-chief Sarah Jenkins said: “As journalists at H&H we have long enjoyed visiting the physical magazine archive in its various office positions over the years – looking through bound issues you find such gems as early interviews with some of our most revered riders. You see how times have changed, and how much has stayed the same – we’re still having debates about overweight horses, for example.

“Being able to access the archive digitally now is a huge treat, and much easier than wading through mountains of physical copies for the article you want. The search function on the digital archive allows you to find every reference to ‘Lucinda Green’, or ‘Michael Whitaker’, or your own horse’s elementary open results from 2020. You can peruse hunt reports from great moments in the sports history, the first Badminton report – which is not a patch on what is produced today, unsurprisingly – Grand Nationals, and more. You can see the evolution of the publication, and its survival through wartime, the hunting ban and more. I hope all with equestrian and media interests will find the new archive a facinating resource.”

It was no small task to painstakingly remove each page from bound volumes to be scanned, and subscribers should note that the archive is missing some volumes. This is as some editions were damaged by water in flooding, and more dramatically by bomb damage when the building next to the office was struck by enemy fire during World War II. These missing issues will be added as replacements are acquired and uploaded.

Archive Digital archivist Dave Bowler said: “Several of the hard-bound volumes display some trauma damage of differing degrees. A closer inspection revealed that the damage appeared to include evidence of wood splinter penetration, affecting many of the pages along with plaster and cement fragments throughout the damaged volumes.

“It has been suggested that the damage seen may be indicative of damage caused during a World War II German air raid on an adjacent building to that in which the archive is reported to have been stored.”

An annual subscription to the archive costs £49.99, a monthly subscription is £9.99 and daily is £2.99. Active magazine subscribers can subscribe separately to the archive for £12 per year.

To subscribe, take a look at a trial issue, or find out more online.

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Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade your subscription to access our online service that brings you breaking news and reports as well as other benefits.