The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics was a mathematics journal that first appeared as such in 1855, but as the continuation of The Cambridge Mathematical Journal that had been launched in 1836 and had run in four volumes before changing its title to The Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal for a further nine volumes. Papers in the first issue, which carried a preface dated April, 1855, and promised further issues on a quarterly schedule in June, September, December and March, have dates going back to November, 1854; the first volume carried a further preface dated January, 1857. From the outset, keeping the journal up and running was to prove a challenging task.