BELFAST — The first issue of a new, regional publication that will focus on the antiques and collectibles business in Maine and New Hampshire will make its debut in July.

The magazine, Maine Journal of Antiques and Collectibles, is owned by its founder, Robert D. Stover Jr. of Belfast. The magazine will be published monthly by the Maine Heritage Publishing Co., also located in Belfast.

Stover was employed formerly as production manager of two Maine weekly newspapers, the Republican Journal and the Bucksport Free Press, both with offices in Belfast, and as a free-lance graphic designer and photographer.

His interest in antiques and collectibles began two years ago while collecting turn-of-the-century, hand-colored photographs by New England photographers Wallace Nutting, Charles Sawyer and Fred Thompson. The interest in the business of antiques and collectibles grew with each auction that he attended and with each show and exhibition he participated in under the business name Whimsy Antiques.

The magazine format will include full-color covers on coated stock with color availability inside for advertisers. Each issue will carry auction reviews that will list items and prices from selected auctions in and around Maine and New Hampshire and focus articles featuring the people and places of interest, either historically or presently, concerning the business and enjoyment of antiques and collectibles.

Each issue will include the latest information concerning museum shows and exhibitions, historical society news, and regional club and specialty group activities from the two-state area.

Cost of the magazine will be $2.50 a copy. A six-month subscription rate of $10 or a 12-month subscription rate of $20 will be offered. It will be printed by Plowshare Press in Belfast.

Ellen Beattie, a former advertising employee of both the Ellsworth American and the Republican Journal newspapers, will be the advertising executive for Maine, managing accounts from Portland and areas west and north of Portland to the New Hampshire border. Steve Ives of Thornton, N.H., will manage advertising accounts from south of Portland, and the state of New Hampshire.

“It is my goal to provide an attractive, glossy magazine that will reach beyond the `trade-to-trade’ aspect of other, currently produced publications that handle information concerning the antique and collectibles market,” Stover said.