It was started in 1970[2][3] as The Chapman, a pamphlet edited by George Hardie and Walter Perrie. Robert Calder, Joy Hendry and Walter Perrie edited the magazine during 1975. Hendry began editing the title in conjunction with Perrie, then solo from issue 16 in 1976. She was the magazine's editor until 2005.[4]
It was variously known as Chapman magazine, Chapman: Scotland's Quality Literary Magazine, but Chapman was its proper title.