The British & Colonial Printer & Stationer, and Newspaper Press Record

Subtitle: “A Weekly Newspaper for the Printing & Allied Trades”

Start Date(s)

  • 1878 (Shattock)

End Date(s)

  • 1953 (Shattock)

Editor(s)

City

  • London, England

Circulation Count

  • 3,250 (Hubbard)

Type of Content

  • "A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Home, Colonial, and Foreign Printing and Stationery Trade Intelligence, Mechanical and other Inventions, Illustrated Books and Book Manufacture, Patents, Gazette, and Financial News" (World's vol. 10, 1893, p. 9)
  • “A weekly illustrated journal of home and colonial printing and stationery trade intelligence; mechanical and other inventions illustrated; novelties in leather and fancy goods; books and book manufacture; patents, with technical criticism thereon; local notes, current topics, and reports upon trade, gazette and financial news, and ‘Who’s who?’ (limited company information), and trade wrinkles” (Mitchell's 1895, p. 62)
  • "Covers events great and small and sources of supply in the trade during the past 70 years" (Catalogue 12)
  • "A trade magazine of local interest, rather than for general study. Special features: commercial review of printing establishments, guide to sources of supply, want advertisements" (Ulrich & Kup 53, 84)
  • "PRINTING: Doings of the craft—Printing in the Provinces—Colonial Intelligence—Foreign News—Criticisms on Specimens—New Machinery—Type Specimens—Original Trade Technical Articles—Descriptions and Illustrations of British Establishments—Letters from Our Correspondents—and every item of News concerning the Trade during the preceding 14 days. STATIONERY: Novelties illustrated and Described—Fac-Similies of Christmas and New Years Cards—and Playing Cards—Technical Articles—Stationery in the Provinces—American Notes—Industries of the Trade—Reviews—Gazette. PAPER-MAKING: Mill News—Trade Gossip—Occasional Samples of Paper—Technical Articles—Descriptions of Factories—Market Prices—Gazette" (Hubbard 1:916)
  • “The only weekly trade paper for printers, stationers, booksellers, publishers, fancy goods manufacturers, and the leather goods trades. It contains reports from Sydney, Melbourne, Cape Town, Toronto, and Calcutta; also news, home and foreign; mechanical and other inventions illustrated, etc.” (Sell's 1887, p. 133)
  • "Like many other exponents of the typographical press, this publication included the latest trade news and statistics, feature articles, voluminous advertising, biographies, letters to the editor, literary works, description of trade events and social occasions, and gossip for and about the trade. It also participated fully in the journalistic practice of 'cut-and-paste' which insured wide circulation of material from trade exchanges to quirky snippets of arcane or humorous knowledge" (DNCJ, Shep)

Notes

  • "It will be, first of all, an independent journal, free from bias, private interest, private enmity, private predilection....It will be a condensed, newsy journal, containing the essence of the current trade intelligence, free from verbiage, disencumbered with uninteresting disquisitions....It will be a lively paper, one that will be a pleasure, not a labour, to read; one that will cheer up the long hours of labour with an occasional smile, and enliven the hours of leisure with a happy thought or a pungent joke....It will be a business paper for business men; one that will provide them with whatever is essential to their needs, but without inflicting on them matter that they care little about, or is too trivial to occupy their time....It will be suited for Colonial and Foreign as well as Home readers. The interests of all will be impartially studied, and undue prominence will be accorded to none" ("Introducing Ourselves," vol. 1, no. 1, p. 8)
  • Different subtitle may also occur: "and Paper Trade/s Review"
  • Hailing says of this journal in 1879, "This is a new venture. It has a very healthy and promising appearance, being carefully edited and printed" (Hailing, "Golden," p. 17)
  • "The motto for the paper, 'Free and Unshackled,' was shared with Stonhill's other journalistic enterprise, The Paper Trade Review" (DNCJ, Shep)
  • "A sound and profitable investment. Employers cannot invest better than by subscribing for The British and Colonial Printer and Stationer for any trusty Overseer, Journeyman, or Apprentice whose good services they wish to recognize. The weekly receipt of the Journal will be a continuous reminder to the recipient of his master's sentiments" (Willing's p. 289)
  • "Absolutely independent and unbiased. A fearless exposer of abuses and trade grievances" (Mitchell's, 1905, p. 92)
  • "From 1887-1928 special quarterly issues with technical articles, now published separately as Paper and Print" (Catalogue 12)
  • "This important international journal that eventually encompassed all the book trades began as a 32 pp. bi-monthly octavo then weekly 16 pp. tabloid format from 1881/2, later doubling in size and price from 4/- per annum to 8/- post free" (DNCJ, Shep)
  • "The opening number of The British and Colonial Printer signalled its intent with a profile of William Blades and an editorial that emphasised the paper as independent, newsy, lively, business-oriented, and suited for Colonial and Foreign as well as Home Readers" (DNCJ, Shep)
  • John Southward was the most prolific contributor (DNCJ, Shep)
  • Changed name in 1879 to The British & Colonial Printer & Stationer, and Paper Trades Review. Changed to The Booksellers' Circular and Paper Trade Review in 1883; then The British & Colonial Printer & Stationer and Booksellers' Circular from 1884-1890; then The British & Colonial Printer & Stationer from 1892; then The British & Colonial Printer from 1944-53. Continued in 1954 as The Printing World (see Shattock, Stewart, and Bigmore and Wyman)
  • Publisher's address, early: Imperial Buildings, 5 Ludgate Circus
  • Publisher's address, later: 58 Shoe Lane, Holborn Viaduct, E.C.

Subject Categories

Sources that Discuss this Journal

  • BLT19
  • “The Bibliography” 35
  • Bigmore and Wyman 2:162
  • Brown and Stratton 241
  • COPAC
  • Hubbard 1:916
  • Mitchell’s 1895 62
  • Sell 1887: 133, 711
  • Shattock 52
  • St. Bride Catalogue (online)
  • Stewart 1:406
  • Ulrich and Kup 53, 84
  • Willing’s 289
  • World's 9

Works Cited

  • Bigmore, E. C., and C. W. H. Wyman. A Bibliography of Printing. 1880. Oak Knoll P and the British Library, 2001.
  • “The Bibliography of Printing.” The Printing Times and Lithographer, vol. 7, nos. 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, Jan.-June 1881. HathiTrust.
  • Brown, Peter, and George B. Stratton. World List of Scientific Periodicals Published in the Years 1900-1960. 4 vols. Butterworths, 1963.
  • Hubbard, Harlan P. Hubbard's Newspaper and Bank Directory of the World. Hubbard, 1882-84. Google Books.
  • Mitchell’s Newspaper Press Directory and Advertiser’s Guide. C. Mitchell, 1895.
  • Sell, Henry. Sell’s Dictionary of the World’s Press. Sell’s Advertising Agency, 1883-1915. Google Books.
  • Willing’s (Late May’s) British and Irish Press Guide, and Advertiser’s Directory and Handbook. Willing’s Press Service. HathiTrust.
  • Shattock, Joanne. The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Vol. 4: 1800-1900. Edited by Frederick W. Bateson. 3rd ed. Cambridge UP. 1999.
  • Stewart, James D., editor. British Union-Catalogue of Periodicals. 4 vols. Butterworths, 1968.
  • Ulrich, Carolyn F., and Karl Kup. Books and Printing: A Selected List of Periodicals, 1800-1942. W. E. Rudge, 1943.
  • The World's Paper Trade Review, vol. 20, no. 5, 1893, p. 9. Google Books.
  • St. Bride Foundation Catalogue, St. Bride Library, 2022.
  • BLT19 Trade and Professional Press Database 1900. Created by Andrew King, 2020.
  • COPAC: Consortium of Online Public Access Catalogues. Library Hub Discover, JISC.
  • Shep, Sydney J. “The British and Colonial Printer and Stationer and Newspaper Press Record.” Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism, Updated online edition, 2009. C19 Index.
© 2020-2024 VPTJ
Privacy Notice | Cookie Preferences