Periodicals. Everything is a periodical that is published periodically. Every publication that is published more than once is necessarily published periodically. Therefore every publication, except- ing a book complete in itself, may, strictly speaking, be described as a periodical, from the Times to Whitaker's Almanac and the Post-office Directory. The use of the term is, however, restricted in ordinary conversation to magazines and reviews appearing not less frequently than once a quarter, and not more frequently than twice a month. Weeklies, at least in Great Britain, have with a few exceptions ceased to be regarded as periodicals. As we have no fortnightlies, our periodicals may be said to be practically reduced to monthlies and quarterlies.
The refusal of the English-speaking world to tolerate fortnightly publications is as remarkable as it is unmistakable. In France and Italy and Belgium the fortnightly is regarded as the natural form of the high-class periodical. Outside these countries the fortnightly is practically unknown. Neither in Great Britain, nor in Greater Britain, has it been found possible to acclimatise the fortnightly. In Russia, in Germany, in Scandinavia, and in Spain and Portugal the periodicals are monthly. As if to remind the world of the constitutional incapacity of the English race to take its literature in bimonthly instalments, the Fortnightly Review is published monthly, but religiously announces on every cover that the issue of the 15th is suspended.
The number of periodicals is almost numberless. There are 332 monthlies in Italy alone, of which, at a moderate computation, 300 are read by no one outside Italy, and by probably fewer than 300 subscribers within the peninsula. But the number of periodicals of general interest that are worth calling periodicals are comparatively few. In Italy, for instance, there are hardly more than three which the outside world ever heard of. In France there are not more than four or five. Different countries excel in different departments. For pure literature and criticism the Revue des Deux Mondes has the first place. For illustration America leads easily, distancing all rivals with the Century, Scribner's, and Harper's; while in the second rank, although still ahead of foreign competitors, with one exception, come the Cosmopolitan and the New England Magazine. The only exception is the German magazine, Velthagen und Klasing's Neue Monatshefte. For general interest and solidity combined the English quarterlies and monthly miscellanies rank first, although they are hard pressed by the Nouvelle Revue, the North American Review, the Forum, and the Arena. For bulk the Russians surpass all the magazinists and reviewers of the world. The Russian monthly contains about three times as much printed matter as the Nineteenth Century. In proportion to its size Belgium leads the world in the multiplicity of its periodicals; but their prosperity is in an inverse proportion to their numbers. There is only one Portuguese monthly procurable in London.
The genesis of the periodical can be traced back for centuries, but the earlier publications of the kind bear about as much resemblance to the magazines and reviews of to-day that the eolippus bears to the winner of last year's Derby. The evolution of the modern magazine is usually traced back to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, which began to appear in 1665, but the true progenitor of our monthly miscellanies were the pamphlets which were spawned in such numbers in the heat of the revolutionary ferment of the 17th century. There was no regular periodicity in their appearance. Pamphleteers wrote as the spirit moved them, but their intermittent productions, in everything excepting the regularity of their appearance and the fact that each appeared singly instead of being stitched together with a dozen others, correspond very closely to the monthly miscellanies which have now become the forum of civilisation. Milton, Marvell, and Defoe would all have been regular contributors to our monthly reviews if these publications had existed in their time. As they were without those conveniences of a more complex civilisation they were under the necessity of publishing each of their essays separately, often at their own risk, and very seldom to their own profit. In these as in other departments of human activity the middleman has been found indispensable alike for the profit of the producer and the convenience of consumers. The modern review is the monthly market where authors sell their wares, and of late the excessive multiplication of such marts has led to the publication of a kind of clearing-house of periodical literature in the Review of Reviews in London and New York, and La Revue des Revues in Paris.
The history of periodical literature in the 18th century as usually told in encyclopædias is little better than a parade of epitaphs from the tombstones of defunct reviews. Two notable facts, however, stand out clearly discernible on these sepulchral tablets. The first, the literary position given for the first time to periodical publications by Addison's editorship of the Spectator, although it was as little of a magazine as it was of a news-sheet; and the second, the birth of the first monthly magazine of the modern type, when Cave the publisher brought out the Gentleman's Magazine in 1731. Of the Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious, published for twelve months in 1689, or the Gentleman's Journal or Monthly Miscellany, which appeared in 1692, nothing need be said. The Gentleman's Magazine, after making a fortune for its originator, has continued to flourish ever since.
If England may claim the honour of having invented the magazine, Scotland has the unquestioned right to be regarded as the originator of the review. A new era in periodical literature dawned when half-a-dozen brilliant young Seotsmen, with the assistance of Sydney Smith and a few less gifted Southrons, decided to establish the Edinburgh Review (q.v.) in the Whig interest in 1802. Their enterprise was rewarded by an immediate and signal success. The wit, the talent, the audacity, and the sheer impudence of the young reviewers startled the limited world of letters from centre to circumference, and convinced the Tories in no less than seven years that it was indispensable to counter the blue and yellow organ of militant Whiggery by a quarterly of unimpeachable orthodoxy. Thus it was that of the Edinburgh was born the Quarterly (q.v.), and the two great quarterlies have held the field ever since as the most authoritative exponents of the most respectable and scholarly element of the two great parties. The honour of initiative in these matters was not confined to the Scottish Whigs. Fifteen years after the Edinburgh first made its appearance a Scottish publisher on the other side, William Blackwood by name, achieved fame and fortune by an equally happy stroke in the publication of Blackwood's Magazine, a half-crown monthly which may be regarded as the parent of the political monthly miscellany. Blackwood was to the Edinburgh and the Quarterly what the saucy frigate was to the stately three-decker. It appeared twelve times a year, against their four numbers; it was infinitely more varied. It published serial fiction, poetry, prose, and that marvellous symposium, the Noctes Ambrosianæ, the secret of which perished with Christopher North. This again compelled the other side to retort by the publication of monthlies which are for the most part not only dead, but forgotten. The poet Campbell did his best in Colburn's Monthly, but for a dozen years the ascendancy of the truculent but brilliant Mag was undisputed.
Then in 1830 came Fraser—a magazine which, after many vicissitudes under many editors, is now extinct, while Blackwood still flourishes, less brutally truculent in its Toryism than of yore, but still bright, brilliant, and scholarly.
The Scottish initiative so remarkably asserted in the Edinburgh among the quarterlies and Blackwood among the monthlies was not exhausted. In 1832 Chambers's Journal made its appearance, marking the commencement of a new and more popular phase of magazinedom. It was published weekly, but was also issued in monthly parts. More than half a century has passed, and Chambers is still 'familiar in our mouths as household words, Cassell's Family Paper (now known as Cassell's Family Magazine) was not started till 1853. The old Penny Magazine (1832), published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, deserves honourable mention. It was succeeded by the Leisure Hour in 1852, still one of the best illustrated sixpennies, published by the Religious Tract Society. Charles Dickens founded Household Words in 1850, and All the Year Round in 1859.
In 1859 Macnellan—again a Scot—published the first shilling magazine. This new departure was rapidly followed by the publication of the Cornhill, under the editorship of Thackeray, which at once achieved a phenomenal success; of Temple Bar, edited by George Augustus Sala; and of London Society, which has always relied chiefly upon fiction for its circulation.
In 1865 George Henry Lewes founded the Fortnightly Review, an avowed imitation of the Revue des Deux Mondes. It was started as a medium for the discussion of 'subjects which interest cultivated and thoughtful readers,' and it was to be published at intervals 'neither too distant for influence on passing questions, nor too brief for deliberation.' Mr Lewes was soon succeeded by Mr John Morley, who, in the sixteen years during which he was editor, gave a distinctive character to the new periodical literature of our time. The success of the Fortnightly led to the publication of the Contemporary (1866), with a bias as pronounced in favour of Christianity as the Fortnightly was biased in favour of Agnosticism. This again was followed eleven years later by the publication of the Nineteenth Century, a miscellany entirely free from editorial bias of any kind. These three reviews have a practical monopoly of the field. They have as neighbours or poor relations—they can hardly be described as either rivals or competitors—the National Review (1883), which is Conservative; and the Westminster, which, originally founded in 1824 as a quarterly, was converted in 1887 into a monthly, while still remaining true to its original philosophical Radical principles. All these are published at half-a-crown. Most of them publish both signed and unsigned articles—the Nineteenth Century alone has consistently refused to insert any article not signed by the real name of the author. The circulation of the Nineteenth Century is the highest. It is the only half-crown review with more than 12,000 subscribers.
In 1850 the Monthly Packet was founded by Miss Yonge; it is written for young girls. Another Church of England shilling magazine was the Newbery House Magazine, issued from 1859 to 1894. Similar was the Minster, a sixpenny, founded in 1894. In 1860 Good Words, founded by Mr Strahan, under the editorship of Dr Norman Macleod, achieved so great a success as a sixpenny monthly, that it was followed in 1864 by the publication of the Sunday Magazine, edited by Dr Guthrie. The prosperity of the sixpennies led to the extinction of some of the older magazines. The English Illustrated Magazine, started in 1883, has repeatedly changed its management. In 1882 Longman's made its appearance at sixpence. In the years 1887-89 Murray's Magazine appeared at a shilling. In 1890 the Review of Reviews appeared at sixpence, followed in 1891 by the Strand Magazine; both of these magazines achieved in the first year of their publication a circulation exceeding 100,000. The Idler, at first (1892) a sixpenny, now costs a shilling; the Pall Mall Magazine dates from 1893; the Woman at Home from 1894; the Windsor began in 1895. Crampton's (once Chapman's) Magazine is devoted to short stories; McChure's Magazine began in 1893; Cassier's Magazine (1891) concerns itself with industry. In 1898 Sir G. Newnes started The Wide World Magazine and The Home Magazine. The most widely circulated magazines, besides the Strand, Chambers's Journal, and Pearson's, are Harmsworth's, Royal Magazine, The Puritan, Boy's Own Paper, Girl's Own Paper, Quiver, Cassell's Family Magazine, The Young Man, The Young Woman, Leisure Hour, Sunday at Home, Good Words, and Sunday Magazine.
Among monthly periodicals devoted to art the oldest is the Art Journal (1839). The Portfolio, founded by Mr Hamerton in 1869, is since 1894 a series of monographs on artists. The Magazine of Art (1878), The Artist, and The Studio are well known. Music is represented by the Musical Times and a few others, and the drama by the Theatre.
The geographical societies publish their proceedings, and most of the sciences have their own reviews; the National Review has a line of its own. The English Historical Review and The Scottish Review (1883) fulfil special functions. Cosmopolis (1896) has sections in French and German. There are innumerable religious magazines. The Catholic Church is represented by the Dublin Review (quarterly), the Month, the Lamp, the Lyceum, and St Peter's (1898). The Wesleyan Methodists and the Primitives publish quarterlies; the Congregationalists have no longer the place in periodical literature they possessed when Dr Allen edited the British Quarterly and Paxton Hood the Eclectic. The Jewish Quarterly is read by many who are not Jews. The Salvation Army has a monthly in All the World; Mr Spurgeon established the Sword and Trowel; the Animal World is the organ of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Child's Guardian of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The United Service Magazine is a monthly, The Navy and Army a weekly. The Badminton is devoted to sport. There are monthly magazines devoted to astrology, postage-stamps, chess, cricket, cycling, vegetarianism, anti-vaccination, Malthusianism, spiritualism, theosophy, and mysterious psychological phenomena; and most trades have a periodical devoted to their interests.—Santa Lucia is the monthly for the blind, in raised Braille type. See BLUE-BOOKS.
A general idea prevails among the public that to write for the magazines is a sure and easy road to competence. As a matter of fact, if we except writers of popular fiction, the number of contributors to periodical literature, not holding editorial appointments, who make £200 a year out of the magazines might probably be counted upon the fingers of one hand. The best paid contributions by the highest class reviews seldom exceed £1 a page of 500 words. The average review article does not yield its writer more than £15. As there are not ten men in England who contribute ten articles each a year to monthly miscellanies—the conclusion is obvious. Yet the flood of contributions rises ever higher. The late editor of the Forum recently calculated that he received from outsiders 3000 MSS. per annum, out of which he was usually able to use less than one per cent. 'Whaur's the harm,' asked the Ettrick Shepherd in Noctes, 'o' a few gude, sober, steady, judicious, regular, well-informed, versateele, and biddable contributors?' To this inquiry Christopher North replied, 'None such are to be found on earth—you must look for them in heaven.' From which it would seem that the editorial burden has changed little in fifty years. Poetry in particular is a drug in the market. In the same Noctes Christopher North said, 'I seldom pay for poetry. In cases of charity and courtesy—that is to say, of old women and young ones—my terms are a shilling for a sonnet, a dollar for a dramatic scene, and for a single book of an epic by way of a specimen, why, I do not grudge a sovereign.' This is probably more than the epic poet of our day would get for all his books from any magazine editor. Many periodicals, like hospitals, are supported entirely by voluntary contributions.
Of English-speaking lands the periodical flourishes chiefly in the United States. In the British colonies the English product seems to kill out the native production. Beyond a not very noteworthy quarterly in Sydney, and some diminutive religious magazines, Australia has no monthly magazines or reviews, except the quarterly Imperial Review of Melbourne. New Zealand has the Monthly Review. South Africa has produced no magazine of more than provincial fame. Canada had in the Bystander a unique magazine edited, written, and owned by Mr Goldwin Smith, but it no longer appears. Barbadoes has a little monthly in Excelsior; Honduras boasts the Honduras Mining Journal, formerly Honduras Progress; and British Guiana publishes Timelri, a quarterly. Among the periodicals in English published on the Continent are the Esquiline (Rome) and Anglo-Austria (Meran). India has the Calcutta Review (quarterly), and the monthlies, the National Magazine, the Indian Magazine and Review, and the Allahabad Review; but the publications of London and Edinburgh overshadow the periodicals of the rest of the empire. The Asiatic Quarterly now embraces colonial and African topics; otherwise the colonies are not specially represented except by the small monthly papers Imperial Federation and Greater Britain.
The American magazines are every year becoming more and more formidable competitors of the English periodicals even in Great Britain. They have an enormous advantage in the excellent American postal rule by which all periodically issued printed matter is conveyed by the mails at special rates not exceeding a halfpenny per pound. In England it costs threepence to send a pound of printed matter, if published monthly, through the post from St-Martin's-le-Grand to Downing Street—although the post-office will carry a pound weight of printed matter if it is issued weekly for one halfpenny from Land's End to John o' Groats. This absurd method of handicapping monthly publications is unknown in the United States. The American magazines are distinguished for the excellence of their typography and the clearness and artistic character of their illustrations. There is no such illustrated magazine as the Century published outside of New York. The American illustrated magazine is making its way rapidly throughout the whole British Empire. The Century and Harper circulate largely in India. Munsey's, at ten cents, has a circulation of 700,000. The Cosmopolitan has now begun to publish in London as well as in New York. The New England Magazine is also a well-illustrated monthly. Of the non-illustrated American magazines the Atlantic Monthly (1858) is one of the oldest and most respectable. Lippincott publishes monthly a complete novel of high character, with a selection of miscellaneous essays. All these are now published simultaneously in London and New York. But the three monthly reviews which correspond to the Nineteenth Century, Fortnightly, and Contemporary are the North American (1815), the Forum (1886), and the Arena (1888). The Arena accompanies its letterpress with portraits and occasional illustrations. It has a distinctive rôle of its own, being the arena for the free discussion of all the heresies which seem to foreshadow the trend of progress. The Forum is steady, sensible, and instructive. The North American is more lively and up to date. All these publish signed articles. The Arena publishes stories. English writers contribute largely to the North American and the Forum. In theology there are the Andover Review, Homiletic Review, Church Review, American Catholic Quarterly, Catholic World, &c.
Up to 1891 some of the English reviews were in the habit of forwarding printed sheets to New York every month; but hitherto the chief knowledge of the American reader concerning English periodicals has been gained from the pages of Littell's Living Age and Current Literature, two publications which are freely fed from the pages of English magazines and reviews. The Americans produce copiously the more solid and ponderous quarterlies. They are great on economics and education, and theology of the slightly antiquated pattern. Their Popular Science Monthly is one of the best of its kind, and the Chautauquan is quite unique—a magazine that aspires to be a substitute for a university.
Coming to foreign periodicals the first place naturally belongs to France, whose two principal reviews, the Revue des Deux Mondes (1829) and the Nouvelle Revue (1879), are read throughout the whole Latin world. It is a curious fact that the Revue des Deux Mondes has more subscribers outside France than within the republic. There is a great Latin belt of a French reading public stretching from Madrid to Bucharest, and among them the Revue reigns as it has long reigned supreme. The Nouvelle Revue owes its character and its charm to its editor, Madame Adam. Both of these great reviews devote much more space to the chronicle of the events of the month than any English or American periodical. The Cosmopolitan, the oldest French review, founded in 1829, is published on the 10th and 25th of each month. It is Catholic with the traditions of Montalembert. Excluding the high-class art magazines, like the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, there is no illustrated periodical in France, although of late La Revue des Revues has been making praiseworthy efforts to fill the gap.
Germany has many literary capitals, and her magazines do not all emanate from a single centre. Most of the popular German magazines, such as Die Gartenlaube and Ueber Land und Meer, are issued both weekly and monthly. They are copiously illustrated, and form a great contrast in their readability to such ponderous reviews as the Deutsche Rundschau, the Deutsche Revue, Unsere Zeit, and the Preussische Jahrbücher. Among the illustrated popular magazines, Vom Fels zum Meer deservedly holds a high place. The best of the German magazines is Velhagen und Klasing's Neue Monatshefte, already mentioned. Westermann's Deutsche Illustrirte Monatshefte and Nord und Süd are also high-class magazines. German periodical literature is very rich in theological reviews; and several periodicals represent the various new schools of literature—e.g. the Gesellschaft is the organ of the Realists. Similarly the Moderne Rundschau, the Deutsche Dichtung, and others are conducted by members of the new schools and tendencies.
In Russia the unwieldy review forms the chief field for the manifestation of the literary talent of the nation. These reviews are published either at Moscow or at St Petersburg. They are hardly seen outside Russia; they are not illustrated, and their circulation is comparatively small. In Italy the Nuova Antologia, La Rassegna Nazionale, and La Civiltà Cattolica are the only periodicals excepting those purely scientific or professional that are seen outside the peninsula. Spain has España Moderna or Revista Ibero-Americana and Revista Contemporánea; Holland, De Gids, Vragen des Tijds, and Elsevier's Geïllustreerd Maandschrift; Scandinavia, Tilskueren, Svensk Tidsskrift, Nordisk Tidsskrift, Samtiden.
In concluding this rapid survey of the periodical literature of the world, mention should be made of the latest born and most polyglot of monthlies, the Pantobiblion, a magazine published in St Petersburg in no fewer than fifteen different languages. It aims at providing professional and scientific men of all countries with a clue to the periodical literature, technical and scientific, of all the world. It is like a periodical monument reared to the memory of the Tower of Babel.
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, a dictionary of the more important articles in the quarterlies, monthlies, and many weeklies, is edited by a Chicago librarian. Stead's popular Index to the Periodicals of 1890 has been issued in London, and the publication is to be continued annually. See also the articles NEWSPAPER and BOOK-TRADE in this work.