Serials and Their Readers 1620-1914

First edition. Number 7 in the Publishing Pathways series. Newsbooks, newspapers, journals, magazines, periodicals - in fact all manner of serialized material produced during the last three centuries in Britain and America - are the subject of this book. Serials, perhaps better than any other form of print production, exemplify the "creative tension" between publisher and consumer. Throughout the period, the opportunity existed for enterprising producers to tap into new, sometimes very large, audiences. They then had to find ways to hold on to their readership from one issue to the next. Readers, in turn, influenced the shape and content of their favorite regular reading matter, but equally they had the power to wipe out serial enterprises in vast numbers. It is this developing interaction that forms the main theme of this book. At the same time intriguing evidence is presented for how serials "worked" in particular historical contexts; how, for example, distribution networks in the 1620s were much more highly developed than is usually assumed; how people in colonial America ensured that they had access to the latest prints; how advertising changed the nature of newspapers; how local papers reflected and contributed to political organization; how the serialized novel of the 1830s affected authorial practice; and how long-held views of a literary hierarchy in which the book is considered to be the most important form of publication may need revising. Illustrated. 192 pages. printed paper over boards.. 8vo..