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

Abstract That the Journal of the London Mathematical Society 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 Proceedings , 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 Journal was no parochial periodical; of the papers in Volume 1, over 25% came from authors based outside Britain.