Alternate Subtitle(s)

• Advertisements connected with literature and the fine arts (journal itself)

Start Date(s)

• 1837 (Boase and Loughlin-Chow)

End Date(s)

• 1959 (Zakreski)

Editor(s)

• Low, Sampson
• Marston, Edward
• Marston, Robert Bright

City

• London, England

Circulation Count

• 3,750 in 1839 (journal itself)
• 750 in 1838

Type of Content

Notes

• "The Publishers’ Circular is a trade journal for the publishing industry" ("Publishers' Circular," NCSE)
• "Until 1837 Bent's Literary Advertiser was the only trade journal connected with bookselling; at this period the publishers became dissatisfied with the manner in which it was conducted, and established a periodical of their own called the Publishers' Circular, appointing Low as editor. The first number appeared on 2 October 1837. Low gradually introduced many changes and improvements, and in 1867 the Circular became his sole property. The periodical, which was published fortnightly, supplied a list of new books, and from these lists an annual catalogue was made up, the first appearing in 1839" (Boas, ODNB)
• “For many years this useful publication was edited by Mr. Samson Low, head of the firm which owns it. The notes which form the preliminary part of each number occasionally contain information on printing and printers” (Bigmore and Wyman 2:187)
• "Similar in character to Bent's Literary Advertiser, this publication conveys an account of works in the press, works newly published, and of book auctions. In the same way as its contemporary, its circulation is among the members of the book trade, who find here a careful registry of all new books. To assistants requiring employment, either in the book trade or printing, the Circular forms an excellent Advertising medium" (Mitchell's 1846, 118)
• Beavan, quoting Eliot and Sutherland, asserts that "the Circular rapidly established itself as a 'central clearing house of information, aimed primarily at the retail trade and bulk buyers (rather than manufacturers) of books'" (Beavan 127)
• "This attempt, the Proprietors are happy to say, has been eminently successful. It is, they have no hesitation in saying, the first and only CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITIAN approaching completeness" ("Address," pp. iii-iv, 1839, but included in preface to first bound vol)
• "Containing a complete list of all New Works published in Great Britain and of every Work of Interest published in abroad (Growell 167)
• "[T]he Publishers' Circular did not begin clearly numbering its entries until 1843" (Eliot and Sutherland 26)
• "In 1851 an 'Annual Illustrated Christmas Number' was introduced and continued for 70 years and provides a record of changing styles and techniques of book illustration and periodical graphics (Zakreski 516-17)
• "One of the most important supplements to the journal was the English (or British) catalogue (1842ff) an annual digest derived from the fortnightly issues" (Zakreski 516-17)
• Publisher's address: St. Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane (BLT19 Database) and 1895
• One of the book trade's 3 most important titles (King 2020, 585)--begun when 14 big publishers in London challenged Bent's monopoly on book trade advertising; not an official trade organ, primarily an advertising sheet (587)
• Becomes Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record of British and Foreign Literature in 1891-1959, then British Books in 1959-1966 (COPAC)

Subject Categories

• Advertising
• Book Trade & Bookselling
• Book Trade News
• Printing Trade
• Publishing

Sources that Discuss this Journal

• Beavan 127; 2:187; 2; 26, 388; 1:155; 85; 165-67; 516-17, 555; 1882:1659; 3:49; 75; 130; 3:629; 585, 587-88

Works Cited

• Beavan, Iain. "Bookselling." The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland, Volume 3: Ambition and Industry 1800–1880, edited by Bill Bell. Edinburgh UP, 2007, pp. 123-40. EBSCOhost.