In its first format, the Miscellany was a monthly, 16 page roughly A5 size, un-illustrated magazine. Available to subscribing members of the then Ancient Order of Foresters. It was produced by a Leeds printer and stationer, Samuel Moody, a member of Court Stone Ezel 139.

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As proprietor, he edited the Miscellany in its early years. Subscribers received a varied mix of editorial opinion, reports on the opening of new Courts, poetry, short pieces of literature, and births, marriages and deaths of members. A correspondence column provided a forum for sharing thoughts about emerging Order and Miscellany itself.

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Formative years

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Throughout the 1830s and early -40s, during the Orders formative years, the original format was maintained.  A useful enhancement came with the inclusion from 1841 of the portrait drawings and potted biographies of High Chief Rangers.  However the level of support was not that expected, or needed, to make publication viable.

Changes to its regularity of issue and content failed to halt declining circulation.  Eventually, in 1856/7 the title went into abeyance.

    A fresh start was made in 1857, with the Permanent Secretary of the order, Samuel Shawcross, being invited to take on the role of 'conductor'.  In this existence, The Foresters' Miscellany and Quarterly review contained some 40 to 50 pages of news, specially commissioned articles statistics, as well reports of local Court events such as dinners and fetes.  The cost of production was partially offset by advertisements promoting AOF members' own enterprises.