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'This is a fascinating, thought-provoking book, which
addresses some of the enduring issues of Victorian serial
publishing, embracing patterns of publication, authorship
and reading. It works hard to provide a sound platform of
both statistical evidence and technological and
institutional narrative for the nineteenth century
periodical press 'revolution' of its title. Not least in
its use of the writings of the journalist Eneas Sweetland
Dallas (1827-1879) as a starting point, it provides fresh
explorations of questions as varied as the role of
newspaper correspondence columns, the professionalisation
of authorship, and the role of the press in the
constitution of the public sphere.' Martin Hewitt, Visiting Professor, University of Leeds Review on The Victorian Web (September 2010) at https://www.victorianweb.org/periodicals/hewitt.html |
| 'Graham Law's book explores
the rise of the periodical press from a sociological
perspective by focusing on its social and political
consequences. The analysis builds on the ideas of
journalist E. S. Dallas – a Scotsman who was a journalist
for The Times in the nineteenth century. What Law
focuses on is Dallas's article 'Popular Literature: The
Periodical Press' in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
The volume embarks 'on a detailed discussion of the
validity of Dallas's premises and his conclusions
regarding authorship, publishing, and readership,
considering not just the mid-Victorian decades when Dallas
himself was active as a journalist but the nineteenth
century as a whole' (p. 8). The book is split into two
introductory chapters and then two main parts presenting
the quantitative growth of the periodical market and the
qualitative analysis in relation to authorship, publishing
and readership. It is commendable that at a time when the
academic literature is so hugely pre-occupied with current
trends, Law has shown that there is real merit in looking
back at media and journalism history.' Unsigned Review in 'Book Notes', European Journal of Communication 39:4 (August 2024), p.403 Available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/02673231241273708b |