How can I find out which of two magazines with the same publication date was first in print?

Question

I'm trying to find out who coined a phrase, and both publications in which it appears are dated October 1964. One is Arts Magazine, a monthly publication dated October 1964 (and no longer in print), the other is Time magazine (weekly), dated Oct. 23, 1964. So the question is, which came first? Currently, a magazine with an October date would most likely be sent in September. Was this also true in 1964? Was the Time sent out approximately one week before its publication date? Thanks for your answers!

Answer 1

Monthly magazines have always been compiled long before their publicatoin dates. Some stories are in the works for three months to a year in advance of the issue. Of course that could also be true for the Time article.

If the phrase is common enough I would check out Bartlett's Familiar Quotations to see who got credit for it. I would conjecture that the monthly article's writer gets credit.

You could also wikipedia it. Further you could google the magazine publishers' trade group (I'm sure there is one) and ask them when that montly issue would have come out.