The London Lounge

I just received the first 2 issues of The Rake, a new bi-monthly magazine published by Revolution Press of Singapore, whose other publication Revolution may be familiar to watch enthusiasts here. I have not yet read the issues but flipped through both issues and must say that it looks very good. I do not have much time for men's periodicals in general but have a feeling that I may actually purchase a subscription of The Rake. It contains images and articles of LL's favourite icons and some of our favoured artisans. Surely you will not agree with everything they say, but that is hardly the point -- the quality standards are far beyond other publications. For example, the inaugural issue has a 16-page article on A&S.

The bad news is that their circulation is mainly in Singapore and Hong Kong, so it is likely to be difficult to pick up a copy elsewhere. I had to call in a favour to get my paws on them. However, I should think that there would be no harm to send your query to subscriptions at revolution-press dot com.

Here are scans of the covers and tables of content to give you an idea. Apologies for the scan quality -- I guess the glass plate needs cleaning....
Issue 1:







Issue 2:

the Editor in Chief, Wei is a friend, and he actually reads this forum.

I will start contributing to the magazine. I have an article in Issue 3 - a long-ish treatise on evening clothes.

pchong wrote:the Editor in Chief, Wei is a friend, and he actually reads this forum.

I will start contributing to the magazine. I have an article in Issue 3 - a long-ish treatise on evening clothes.

Shall we have the privilege to read it, prior to its publication, in the section on “Features and Articles”? I do hope so.

pchong wrote:the Editor in Chief, Wei is a friend, and he actually reads this forum.

I will start contributing to the magazine. I have an article in Issue 3 - a long-ish treatise on evening clothes.

pchong, I had a feeling you might be familiar with someone at Revolution via the watch world... I got the impression that your friend, or someone in his office, might be reading this forum because they alluded to a discussion on LL in the Cary Grant article. By the way, your friend actually sits above the editor-in-chief...
looking forward to issue 3,
shredder

Hello,

Have friend in S'pore, asked him to pick up some copies.

This is his reply:

I have bought the latest issue of the rake (5th issue is now in the market)
but I cannot find the previous issues. All bookstores say that they return
the old issues to the distributor once the new one is out.

I will check a couple of stores more til Friday for the past 4 issues.

Best regards,

Can anyone help. Much thanks




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Last time I was at Norton & Sons I noticed they had a copy in their front of house. On a cursory glance it looked very interesting. Certainly it appeared very well produced. I haven't seen it available retail in the UK though...

Back issues and subscriptions available here:
http://www.therakeonline.com/subscribe.html

shredder wrote:Back issues and subscriptions available here:
http://www.therakeonline.com/subscribe.html

Thank you.

However,
My colleague is in S'pore for a few more days. It is much less expensive to buy at the stores. That is why I was inquiring about a local source there.

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pchong wrote:the Editor in Chief, Wei is a friend, and he actually reads this forum.

I will start contributing to the magazine. I have an article in Issue 3 - a long-ish treatise on evening clothes.

Hello,

I have been a member here for some time. This year saw me go through a career change. I moved from a job in corporate R&D to academia at a public sector University in the developing world. From what I have seen, the Rake is what the aspiring well dressed professional should look towards for guidance. I do not expect the starting engineers to rush to Lobb or Berluti for custom shoes but I find the directions illustrated quite proper.

At a recent farewell dinner, several of the young folk were wearing their interview outfits. Dark brown shirt and white belt may get you some phone numbers at a bar but it is far from what I want to see them wearing at the interviews.

It will be extremely difficult for me to get our library to order a subscription. The international shipping prices and my local salary make this a difficult proposition at this but I will find a way.

Please pass this message to your friend at the Rake. If he is able to get a less expensive distribution option, he will have a large market in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Dubai, Kuwait, Russia, .....if the magazine is available at the bookstands.

Thank you

My mouth is watering, but $20 an issue is dear, dear, dear... Are there any bookstores/magazine stands in DC which might sell it? Typically with foreign magazines the subscription price is higher than the newsstand price as the subscriber ends up paying the cost of individual shipping.

rjman wrote:My mouth is watering, but $20 an issue is dear, dear, dear... Are there any bookstores/magazine stands in DC which might sell it? Typically with foreign magazines the subscription price is higher than the newsstand price as the subscriber ends up paying the cost of individual shipping.

I believe that Wei went round the world in May promoting the title to distributors, but as far as I know, retail distributions are still only in Singapore and HK for the moment. And, I agree that the subscription rate is a bit hard to swallow.

I love this magazine, and now it is available for sale at Lodger in London for 10 pounds. It is very surprising to me that it is really only distributed in HK and SG, I wouldn't have thought there exists a large market in these cities, but what do I know?

Come on guys, support the magazine, 10 pounds is not that much to spend per quarter when you think about it, especially to people who purchase bespoke clothing...

I recently ordered and received issue 4 of “The Rake”. It really is enjoyable reading covering a wide range of interesting topics including marine chronometry, the story behind the “London Cut” and Lobb St. James’s. Well worth your time.

There were a few bits of critical feedback recently on another thread from several members regarding the content quality. The common themes appear to be 1) they seem to have fallen into a set formula that gives the impression of repetitiveness rather than freshness; 2) they feature too many commercial, designer things and not enough bespoke and artisanal products; and 3) their prose and editing are not exactly inspiring.

As some have mentioned, I find the subscription cost a little too high. Therefore, I have not purchased any issues after the first two, which, in the interest of disclosure, were gratis (and greatly appreciated) and have not had alternative access to subsequent issues. As such, I cannot comment on the first criticism.

On the matter of price, I know that the retail price for most periodicals in most countries do not even cover the cost of material, production and distribution. With The Rake's larger format, heavier stock and four colour printing, the production and distribution costs must be relatively high in the absolute and extravagant in proportion to the advertising revenue that a title of small circulation can achieve in its first years.

The second criticism is probably spot on, but I am not sure if there is a commercially viable alternative. It will need to appeal to a broad enough audience to make it not only commercially viable but also to make it a worthwhile investment for its investor(s). Even with a (relatively) broad designer-tat-to-proper-bespoke content, the title still serves only a niche as the number of potential readers is, even on a global scale, relatively limited. I think the graveyard for magazine titles is littered with failed attempts at offering contents dealing with only the best. Those of us grey enough might remember, with some nostalgia, an American title, Connoisseur. Arguably, they were the shining star of the English language periodicals covering refined products and living. However, their demise might be characterised as being a victim of their own success. Similarly, I have no idea how FMR have managed to survive for so long in delivering high calibre multilingual content. It might be argued that FMR serves as a marketing medium for the beautiful books that Franco Maria Ricci publish and which I suspect are pure labour of love rather than a commercially sensible undertaking.

I have wondered where the equilibrium lies but cannot even begin to guess where that might be. What I do know is that if they focussed their content to target only the likes of LL members, they will not achieve the requisite scale / circulation to survive beyond just a few issues. The only market in which such periodicals can and do survive is Japan where people have a voracious appetite for printed words, no matter how niche the subject matter may seem. But then, it would have to be in Japanese...

The third criticism is, whilst I agree, not a deal breaker. However, I do agree that it does tend to exasperate the frustration arising from the first two reasons.

I think that it is, both in abstract and in practice, a very difficult balancing act (and wish that I had some constructive and actionable feedback to offer). Therefore, I do commend the publisher for having the bollocks to even try and for the staff and contributors to put it all together. No small feat. I wish them all the best.

s