In 1845, two of Ainsworth's friends and contributors died, Laman Blanchard and Richard Barham. Later in the year, Ainsworth was able to regain control over "Ainsworth's Magazine" and continued to republish many of his earlier works. He spent much of his time recruiting contributors to the two magazines, and published a new work in 1847, "James the Second" but claimed only to be the "editor" of the work. By 1847, he was able to purchase the copyright of many of his earlier works in order to reissue them. During this time, he was working on what would be his best novel, "The Lancashire Witches". By the end of 1847, the plan of the novel was finished and the work was to be published in "The Sunday Times".