The Monthly Review (periodical) (1889)

As book importers and distributors, Lyon & Blair were well aware of publishing trends overseas, particularly in Great Britain, where the literary review was an essential tool for gentlemanly exchange and scholarly discourse. The Monthly Review endeavoured to clone such overseas publications, and included minutes of local meetings of, for example, The Wellington Philosophical Society and the Wellington Field Naturalists' Club, poetry, articles on topics such as Darwinism, the frozen meat trade, and the Archives of New Zealand, reviews of New Zealand publications (Vogel's Anno Domini 2000 gets a stinging attack), and regular columns on "Nga Tangata Maori." The first six issues were printed by Edwards & Co., of Brandon Street, but later issues appear to have returned to the Lyon & Blair production house and include their characteristic head- and tail-piece ornaments.