'[T]here are some real gems here. Graham
Law's previously mentioned "Periodicals and Syndication"
and Peter L. Shillingsburg's "Book Publishing and the
Victorian Literary Marketplace" provide succinct
introductions to nineteenth-century print culture,
establishing its importance in the Victorian world view.
Between them, these articles synthesize the classic
works on nineteenth-century publishing history -- from
Altick to Cross to
Sutherland to Wolff -- and together they provide one of
the clearest brief overviews of the field that I have
encountered. Law's article would work well
as standard reading for any Victorian literature or
history course that makes
even occasional use of periodicals.' Solveig C. Robinson, Pacific Lutheran University Review in Victorian Periodicals Review 36:3 (Fall 2003) |
Lyn Pykett, University of Wales,
Aberystwyth Review in Wilkie Collins Society Journal, NS 6 (2003) |
Sally Mitchell, Temple University 'The Making of Many Companions', Review in English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, 46:4 (2003) |
'In the Cambridge volume, the handbook
function is best served
by Simon Eliot's "The Business of Victorian Publishing", a
compact survey
of the various formats of fiction production from the
first Sir Walter (Scott)
to the second (Besant). Likewise, two chapters in the
Greenwood volume: Graham
Law's "Periodicals and Syndication" briskly traces the
movement from monthly
to weekly partial publication of fiction to the
introduction in the 1870s
of newspaper syndication by Tillotson's Fiction Bureau;
Peter Shillingsburg distills his impressive knowledge of
the economics, sociology, and technology of Paternoster
Row in "Book Publication and the Victorian Literary Market
Place."' Robert A. Colby, Professor Emeritus, Queen's College, CUNY Review, with The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel, in Studies in the Novel 10 (December 2003) |
'This
procedure is fine when historical information is intrinsic
to the offered subject matter: thus, for example, Jonathan
Rose on the Victorian reading revolution in "Education,
Literacy, and the Victorian Reader" (Blackwell) and Graham
Law on "Periodicals and Syndication" (Greenwood) are
admirably helpful. The information in such cases is
clearly offered, prior to its potential use in terms of
literary interpretation.' Phillip Davis, University of Liverpool Review, with A Companion to the Victorian Novel (Blackwell), in Victorian Studies 46.4 (2004) |