Over the course of the 19th century, British publishing evolved unevenly from a handcrafted industry run by gentleman publishers to the modern industrialized mass media of the 20th century. At the same time, the period witnessed a massive increase in the size of the reading public due to population growth and increased literacy. These changes affected all aspects and levels of literary production. For authors, the increase in publishing output meant more opportunities to earn a living at writing, particularly for women writers and especially in the fields of literature and journalism. For publishers, the growing demand for print materials led to the adoption of mechanized production and the cultivation of a mass market for print. For readers, the increasing abundance of print materials at decreasing prices created a mass market where thousands of publications competed for readers’ eyes and pennies. To take the novel as one example, early in the century a new novel frequently appeared in an expensive three-volume edition of 500 copies priced at 31s 6d (thirty-one shillings and sixpence) each, a price well out of the range of the majority of readers who then depended on circulating libraries for access. By the end of the century, a new novel typically appeared in a one-volume edition of thousands of copies priced at 3s 6d or 6s each, an appealing price for nearly all middle-class readers. Magazine publication followed a similar transition: in the 1830s, monthly magazines such as Bentley’s Miscellany cost 2s 6d; at midcentury, monthly magazines such as the Cornhill cost 1s; and by century’s end, monthly magazines such as the Strand cost 6d, with stark increases in circulation. Past scholarship of publishing has often focused on the history of one author’s or publisher’s experiences in publishing: for instance, the descriptive bibliography of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s editions of poems or the general history of William Blackwood’s publishing company. Based on this well-developed bibliographical foundation, recent scholarship has been influenced by the development of book history as a field—the History of the Book, sometimes called print history or print culture, focuses on the authorship, production, and reading of books as a material practice. Broadly speaking, the history of the book investigates book production as an important cultural practice: in what ways do the interactions between authors, publishers, and readers affect what print material is produced? Alternately, how do social forces—such as class and gender—affect the production and consumption of print materials? The history of the book field has greatly widened our scope of study to, among other things, the lives of lesser-known authors, the business practices of publishers, and the experiences of readers: for example, on the experiences of women authors in the literary marketplace, the adoption of steam-powered presses by magazine publishers, or the changing tastes of children readers.
Thinking Through the History of the Book