The founding of the Journal of the London Mathematical Society and its first volume

That the <i>Journal of the London Mathematical Society</i> came into existence in 1926 can be ascribed to the efforts of one man: G.H. Hardy. As one of the two Secretaries of the Society, Hardy was aware of the increasing demand for publication space in the Society’s <i>Proceedings</i>, and the need for an outlet for shorter papers. It was evident that these problems could be solved if the Society could publish a second journal. However, to do so required money, money that the Society did not have; funds would have to be raised. Hardy rose to the challenge. Well-connected and international in outlook, he was the right man for the task. Not only did he secure the funds, he ensured that the <i>Journal</i> was no parochial periodical; of the papers in Volume 1, over 25% came from authors based outside Britain.