Organization of today’s talk Introduction

• Theory: Carey & Anderson

• History: C19th Newspaper Development

Novels in Local Newspapers: • 1 Pre-abolition exceptions

• 2 Early ad hoc examples

• 3 Major Syndicators

• 4 Weekly News Miscellanies

• 5 Self-syndicators: Pae & Borlase

Conclusion • Research Directions

• References

“The aims of this essay …

First, to sketch the socio-

economic underpinnings of

the emergence of the weekly

“news miscellany”, the

provincial press format in

which Victorian serial fiction

particularly flourished. And

second, to offer an illustrated

overview of the main forms of

serial fiction found there,

touching at the same time on

sources of supply and modes

of affiliation.” (p. 2)

Intro 1: Theory: Carey & Anderson John Carey, Communication as Culture

• AGAINST the “transmission view” of communication focused on “the act of

imparting information ... for the purpose of control” which dominates the

perception of modern media

• FOR “a ritual view” valuing the “representation of shared beliefs” which draw

groups of people together “in fellowship and commonality”

• EXAMPLE: role of newspapers in social life: “news is not information but

drama … an arena of dramatic forces ... [which] invites our participation”

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities • novel and newspaper = products of “print-capitalism” which enabled

“rapidly growing numbers of people to think about themselves, and to relate

themselves to others, in profoundly new ways”

• novel and newspaper = “two forms of imagining which ... provided the

technical means for ‘re-presenting’ the kind of imagined community that is

the nation”

• BUT: C19th novel and newspaper not only national,

but also local and regional

Intro 2: History: C19th Newspaper Development

Qualitative • end of C18th: newspapers = “luxury goods available affordable only

to the wealthy few”

• start of C20th: newspapers = “largely transformed into cheap

commodities available to the masses”

Quantitative

Factors • technological and commercial

• developments in “print capitalism” [both production & distribution]

• legal and fiscal • “taxes on knowledge” [reduced 1830s / removed 1850s]

British Daily Newspapers in C19th

Period

No. of Titles

Circulation

c. 1800

150

Max. <5,000

c. 1850

560

Max. <10,000

c. 1900

2,500

Max. >500,000

Questions & Comments I.

Body 1:

Pre-abolition

exceptions

Opening of Wheeler,

“Sunshine and Shadow”

(Leeds) Northern Star,

Sat. 31 Mar. 1849

<<<<<<<<<<

>>>>>>>>>>

Opening of Unsigned,

“Broadfields Manor”

Alnwick Mercury,

Thur., 1 June 1854

Body 2: Early ad hoc cases

[by Reuben Hallam]

Sheffield Telegraph

Sat, 2 Dec 1865

[by R.E. Leader]

Sheffield Independent

Sat, 6 Jan 1866

[by William Alexander]

Aberdeen Free Press

Tue, 28 Sep 1869

“Carl Morganwg”

[=J. Charles Manning]

Western Mail

Fri, 28 Jul 1871

Body 3: Major Syndicators

What is Syndication?

“… a curious phase in England so far as fiction is

concerned. The largest prices are now got from country

newspapers who form syndicates, and each subscribe

their portion towards the novel ...” (Payn to Tauchnitz,

1878)

• organization from central agencies

• partly printed sheets vs. stereotype plates

Cassell’s General Press (London publishers)

from mid-1860s • largely metropolitan material and southern clients

• specializing in partly printed sheets and inserts

Tillotson’s Fiction Bureau (newspaper chain

around Bolton, Lancashire) from early 1870s • retaining initial northern English focus

• gradually national & international authors & clients

• specializing in stereotype & “flimsy” columns

Body 4a: Weekly News

Miscellanies (1860s & 1870s)

Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1868

Nottingham Evening Post,

1879

Body 4b: Weekly News

Miscellanies (1880s & 1890s)

Hull Packet, 1883

Northampton Mercury,

1893

Body 5: Self-Syndicators

David Pae (1828-84) from Scotland • > 50 serial novels, each in >12 major weeklies over Scotland, Ulster, & n. England

• melodramatic, but fairly careful attention to historical and local settings

• see GL article & table in ASLS Companion to C19th Scottish Literature (2020)

James Skipp Borlase (1839-1902) from Cornwall • c. 50 serial novels, many in single weeklies in English midlands

• “customized local melodramas”

Questions & Comments II:

Groups in ‘Breakout Rooms’

Conclusions 1: Research Directions

Regressive Research

• Snell, K.D.M., The Bibliography of Regional Fiction in Britain and Ireland,

1800-2000. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002.

• “most up-to-date bibliography of regional fiction … concerned only with work

in volume form … entirely overlooking the local newspaper serial”

• the writings of Pae and Borlase hardly appear at all

Pioneering Research • “outstanding studies of particular papers”

• e.g. Edward Cass on the Cotton Factory Times

• “outstanding studies … of particular regions in particular periods” • e.g. William Donaldson on the press in Victorian Scotland

• pop lit = material “written specifically for publication in newspapers”

Research hereafter • “large-scale digital archives such as Gale’s British Library Newspapers”

• = “a golden opportunity to redress the balance”

Conclusions 2: References

Theoretical Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. Rev. ed. Verso, 1991.

Carey, James W. Communication as Culture. Rev. ed. Routledge, 2009.

Historical Altick, Richard D. The English Common Reader. University of Chicago Press, 1957.

Jones, Aled. Powers of the Press. Scolar Press, 1996.

Biographical Borlase, James Skipp. ALS to George Redway, 1 Jan 1898, National Library of Australia.

Unsigned. “Death of Carl Morganwg”, (Cardiff) Evening Express (31 May 1907).

Unsigned. “The Late Mr David Pae”, People’s Journal (17 May 1884).

Unsigned. “Notes about Mr James Skipp Borlase”, Derby & Chesterfield Reporter (11 Nov 1887).

Narcissistic Law, Graham. “Distribution”, Handbook to C19th British Periodicals & Newspapers, Routledge, 2016.

Law, Graham. “Imagined Local Communities”, Printing Places. Oak Knoll Press, 2005.

Law, Graham. ‘“Nothing but a Newspaper”’, Encounters in the Victorian Press. Palgrave, 2004.

Law, Graham. Serializing Fiction in the Victorian Press. Palgrave, 2000.

Law, Graham, & R.L. Patten. “The Serial Revolution”, History of the Book in Britain VI. CUP, 2009.

Pae, David. Lucy, the Factory Girl, ed. Graham Law. Sensation Press, 2001.

Questions & Comments III.