The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS

Mr. Knight speaks of these rather discou-
ragingly, opines that the risk is greater than
the profit, and calculates that the publisher of
10.000 copies of a shilling volume cannot
reckon on more than 201. clear gain. He
argues energetically in favour of international
copyright, having an eye to the American
market. We are not sanguine of his success
in persuading transatlantic publishers to tax
themselves or their readers for the benefit of
English authors. Nor do we go along with
him in thinking that the publication by the
Irish Government of a few school books below
the remunerative priee—whether that were a
wise aot or no—was an " attempt to inflict
" direct injury upon literature and learning."
So trifling a grievance scarcely merited men•
tion in a work meant to be permanent.
Here are the statistics of journalism, shortly
and clearly condensed from the official re-

turns : -
In 1801 the annual circulation of newspapers in
,England and Wales was 15 millions, and in Scotland 1
million. In 1853 the annual circulation of England and
Wales was 72 millions, and of Scotland 8 millions, that of
'relined being also about 8 millions. In September, 1836,
the stamp-duty on newspapers was reduced to one penny.
Immediately previous to the reduction the annual circula-
tion of newspapers in Great Britain was about 29 millions.
The increase, therefore, in seventeen years, has been 51
millions. We have cast up the twenty-two folio pages of
the " Return of the Number of Newspaper Stamps, at one
penny, issued in 1853," and we find these results, as
derived from the stamps, excluding supplements, used by
913 newspapers in England, 18 in Wales, 146 in Scotland,
and 121 in Ireland, making a total number of 1,198. But
it must be borne in mind that about one-half of the
publications in this return called newspapers are not news-
papers in any sense of the word. Every publication can
be stamped as a newspaper for which the proprietor and
printer give the necessary legal securities ; and thus hun-
dreds of price-currents, catalogues, and circulars—and
many literary journals which are only partially stamped,
and which none but political pedants, calling for a defini-
tion, term newspapers—find their way into this official
return. There are, in round numbers, 000 newspapers
proper in the United Kingdom. There are in London
14 daily papers, 6 twice and thrice a week, and
71 weekly ; and about 500 provincial papers in the
United Kingdom. Of the London daily papers about
twenty-four millions are annually circulated, of which
the Times has the lion's share of 14 millions. There are
four weekly papers, published at the surpassingly cheap
rate of threepence, which circulate 13 millions. The
Illustrated Lundoe News has a circulation of 4 millions;
and eleven other leading weekly papers issue, annually, 0
millions. There are 6 religious papers, which have a
circulation of about a million and a quarter. Thus, 36
London publications engross 48 million stamps, out of 71
millions. Ot the provincial English press there are 26
great towns which number 80 papers, and these 80 consume
13 millions of stamps. We have, therefore, only 10
millions more to distribute amongst the entire newspaper
press of England. The Welsh annual circulation is under
a million.

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Mr. Knight avoids the subject of stamp duty,
yet seems to argue in favour of its retention,
hinting at the inexpediency of substituting
local and provincial for national journalism.
He vehemently assails the decision of the
House of Commons against Mr. Ewart's bill
for the extension of free libraries, and supplies
some useful hints for their formation and
management.
In the historical portions of this volume
Mr. Knight should have cited authorities for
his statements more frequently than he has
done. He has fallen into one strange error.
At page 73 Froissart is spoken of as " the
accomplished knight Sir John Froissart."
Froissart was a priest, and, although there
was some defect about his ecclesiastical orders,
a canon of a cathedral. Blemishes of this
kind should be removed ; but, on the whole,
we can safely recommend the book as terse,
interesting, and full of matter.