The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press
Comprehensively sets out the cross-regional and transnational dimension of press history in early-modern Britain and Ireland
- Provides an exhaustive history of the British and Irish Press from the outbreak of the British Civil Wars to the eve of the Act of Union, reflected upon in a mixture of core chapters, substantive chapters, and focused case studies
- Sets out to capture the cross-regional and transnational dimension of press history in early-modern Britain and Ireland
- Offers unique and important reassessments of the seventeenth and eighteenth-century British and Irish periodical press within social, cultural, technological, economic, linguistic and historical contexts
Consisting of twenty-eight chapters and numerous case studies the volume examines the history of the British and Irish press from its seventeenth-century beginnings up until the end of the eighteenth century. Five core chapters regard the Business of the Press (including advertising), Production and Distribution, Legal Constraints and Opportunities, Readers and Readerships, and the Emerging Identities and Communities of news writers and journalists. Other contributions focus on particular national realities such as those in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The contributions examine features relating to the production, transmission and reception of not just news publications but also the more specialised press such as periodical essays, women’s periodicals, literary and review journalism, medical journals, and the criminal and religious press. As much early modern news was a transnational phenomenon the volume includes studies on European and trans-Atlantic networks as well as the role of translation in news transmission and output.
A thorough account of newspaper and periodical press history in Britain and Ireland from 1800–1900
- Winner of the Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize 2021
- Provides a comprehensive history of the British and Irish Press from 1800-1900, reflected upon in 60 substantive chapters and focused case studies
- Sets out to capture the cross-regional and transnational dimension of press history in nineteenth-century Britain and Ireland
- Offers 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 émigré press and emerging developments in children’s and women’s press.
"Offers a definitive history of the British and Irish Press from 1900-2017
- Captures the cross-regional and transnational dimension of press history in twentieth-century and at the start of twenty first-century Britain and Ireland
- Offers unique and important reassessments of twentieth-century and contemporary British and Irish press and periodical media within social, cultural, technological, economic and historical contexts
- Provides a timeline of significant events for cross-reference as well as an extensive bibliography for further research
This volume responds to the absence of wide-ranging, up-to-date analysis of newspapers and periodicals across Britain and Ireland in the twentieth century by providing an ambitious, interdisciplinary and research-led volume that seeks to explore long-term continuities and changes.
The Introduction provides an initial overview of the century by studying the evolution of the British and Irish press across five milestone years, and, in particular, examining how the leading titles in the market, the popular daily newspapers, sought to develop their appeal to a broad, mainstream audience. Five core chapters then analyse in more detail the central features of the environment in which the press operated: economic forces and patterns of ownership; the institutions and technologies of production and distribution; the reading audience; the legal and regulatory framework; and the identities and communities that structured the market. The main body of the volume comprises a series of thematic chapters attending to different aspects of the creation, content and impact of newspapers and periodicals in this period. A timeline of significant events for cross-reference and an extensive bibliography for further research are also included making this a thorough resource for researchers and students alike.
