Awards

• Winner of Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize 2021

Overview

A thorough account of newspaper and periodical press history in Britain and Ireland from 18001900 Provides acomprehensive history of the British and Irish Press from 1800-1900, reflected upon in 60 substantive chapters and focused case studiesSets out to capture the cross-regional and transnational dimension of press history in nineteenth-century Britain and IrelandOffers unique and important reassessments of nineteenth-century British and Irish press and periodical media within social, cultural, technological, economic and historical contexts This is a unique collection of essays examining nineteenth-century British and Irish newspaper and periodical history during a key period of change and development. It covers an important point of expansion in periodical and press history across the four nations of Great Britain (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales), concentrating on cross-border and transnational comparisons and contrasts in nineteenth-century print communication. Designed to provide readers with a clear understanding of the current state of research in the field, in addition to an extensive introduction, it includes forty newly commissioned chapters and case studies exploring a full range of press activity and press genres during this intense period of change. Along with keystone chapters on the economics of the press and periodicals, production processes, readership and distribution networks, and legal frameworks under which the press operated, the book examines a wide range of areas from religious, literary, political and medical press genres to analyses of overseas and emigre press and emerging developments in children's and women's press.

Full Product Details

Author:   David Finkelstein (Cultural Historian)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
ISBN:  

9781474424899

ISBN 10:   1474424899
Pages:   880
Publication Date:   28 February 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Language:   English

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Contributor Biographies Introduction, David Finkelstein PART I: Press and Periodical Economics 1. The Economics of Press and Periodical Production, Howard Cox and Simon Mowatt Case Study 1: Newspapers and Advertising, Peter Robinson PART II: Production and Distribution 2. Production, Helen S. Williams Case Study 2: John Cossar & Son and the Govan Press, Helen S. Williams 3. The Evolution of Image-Making Industries and the Mid- to Late Victorian Press, Rose Roberto PART III: Readership and Distribution 4. Readership and Distribution, Paul Raphael Rooney PART IV: Identities and Communities 5. Cultural Agents and Contexts: The Professionalisation of Journalism, Joanne Shattock Case Study 3: New Journalism, Philip March Case Study 4: Letters to the Editor, Allison Cavanagh Case Study 5: The Reporter, Stephen Tate Case Study 6: The Byline, Steve Harrison PART V: Legal Frameworks 6. Newspapers and the Law in the Nineteenth Century, Tom O’Malley PART VI: Themed Chapters 7. The English-Language Press in Continental Europe, Diana Cooper-Richet 8. Transnational Exchanges, M. H. Beals Case Study 7: The Fight in Piccadilly: How False News Went Viral in 1895, Colette Colligan Case Study 8: Transnational Exchange between British and Swedish Periodicals in the 1830s, Cecilia Wadsö Lecaros Case Study 9: An Imperial Ideology of News: News Values and Reporting about Japan in Colonial India, Amelia Bonea Case Study 10: The Steamship Press: An International Conduit of Information and Imperial Masculinity, Paul Raphael Rooney Case Study 11: The Russian Emigre Press, Helen S. Williams 9. Literary and Review Journalism, Joanne Wilkes 10. ‘One language is quite sufficient for the mass’: Metropolitan Journalism, the British State and the ‘Vernacular’ Periodical Press in Wales, 1840–914, Aled Gruffydd Jones 11. The Scottish Gaelic Press, Sheila M. Kidd 12. The Irish-Language Press: ‘A tender plant at the best of times’?, Regina Uí Chollatáin 13. The Nineteenth-Century Denominational Press, Joan Allen Case Study 12: The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, Ian d’Alton 14. Comics, Cartoons and the Illustrated Press, Elizabeth Tilley 15. The Satirical Press, Michael de Nie 16. The Medical Press and Its Public, Sally Frampton 17. Science and the Press, Alex Csiszar Case Study 13: ‘Fellows that never knew each other’: Natural History Periodicals, Matthew Wale 18. The Business Press, Melissa Score 19. The Press and Radical Expression: Structure and Dissemination, Martin Conboy 20. The Political Press, James Thompson Case Study 14: The Glasgow Herald, James Thompson Case Study 15: Parnell, Edmund Dwyer Gray and the Press in Ireland, Felix M. Larkin Case Study 16: The Nation, James Quinn 21. The Trade and Professional Press, Andrew King Case Study 17: The Book Trade Press, Rachel Calder Case Study 18: The Armed Services Press, Margery Masterson 22. The Leisure and Hobby Press, Christopher A. Kent Case Study 19: Galleries without Walls: Art and the Mechanical Mass Culture of the Press, Michael Bromley and Karen Hasin-Bromley 23. The Sporting Press, Joel H. Wiener Case Study 20: Sport Reporting in the Times from 1800 to 1900, Jessie Wilkie 24. The Children’s Press, Frederick S. Milton Case Study 21: Children and the News, Siân Pooley 25. The Women’s Press, Kathryn Ledbetter 26. The Provincial, Local and Regional Press, Andrew J. H. Jackson Case Study 22: The Provincial Nature of the London Letter, Andrew Hobbs Case Study 23: William Saunders and the Industrial Supply of News in the Late Nineteenth Century, Andrew Hobbs Case Study 24: The Irish Times: ‘The Protestant and Conservative daily newspaper’, Mark O’Brien Key Press and Periodical Events Timeline, 1800–1900 Bibliography Index

Reviews

This hefty volume should be present in each university library, as a precious, and indispensable tool for students and scholars who investigate not only the British and Irish nineteenth-century press, but Victorian culture and technology, visual studies, advertisement and, generally, the complex and evolving relationship between Victorian readers and printed information. -- Francesca Orestano * Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens * Bringing together the technological and the human aspects of print culture, The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press depicts a press that is always both organic and industrial. This volume, as Finkelstein’s introduction underscores, not only highlights the expansion and evolution inherent in nineteenth-century British and Irish publishing, but it also reflects the evolution of periodical studies and invites further expansive scholarship. -- Sofia Prado Huggins, Texas Christian University * Journal of European Periodical Studies * This is an invaluable contribution to the field of nineteenth-century publishing and social history, and also a useful reference source for scholars and librarians. -- Graham Hogg, National Library of Scotland * Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society * This is a compendious, shaped and distinctive guide to the nineteenth-century press, which thoroughly covers both the newspaper and periodical press, and Britain and Ireland. It is interested in borders - the Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Gaelic press, the developing fields of transnational exchanges, and the local and regional press. The extraordinary breadth of the press is faithfully reflected in accessible essays and case studies. Fresh pieces on production and distribution, press law, professionalisation, and economics anchor this account of the industry. Numerous illustrations make it come alive. * Laurel Brake, Birkbeck, University of London * David Finkelstein, one of our most distinguished historians of journalism, has drawn on a wide range of colleagues in the field to dwell on the political, economic and technological aspects of the story. -- A. N. Wilson * TLS * Transcribing a thorough history of the British and Irish press over an entire century may seem like a daunting task, yet David Finkelstein completes it with aplomb. ... Covering a wide range of topics, the collection is rich with information that will be new to many readers of Victorian Periodicals Review and useful to students and scholars alike. -- Mary McCartney, University of St. Thomas * Victorian Periodicals Review *

Author Information

David Finkelstein is a cultural historian who has published in areas related to print, labour and press history. Recent publications include Movable Types: Roving Creative Printers of the Victorian World (2018), and the edited Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press, volume 2: Expansion and Evolution, 1800–1900 (2020), winner of the 2021 Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize for its contribution to the promotion of Victorian press studies.

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