The Invention of News: How the World Came to Know About Itself (50 page)

The
Philosophical Transactions
was nevertheless a more elitist venture than the
Journal des sçavans
. The three hundred copies printed were more than enough for the fellows, and the Society made little attempt to spread its reach beyond the circle of experts. Both periodicals, however, were self-consciously a part of the international community of learning and discovery: the Republic of Letters celebrated in Pierre Bayle's monumental and long-running review journal,
Nouvelles de la république des lettres
(1684–1718). The first issue of the
Philosophical Transactions
contained one article contributed from France, and another from Italy; subsequent numbers frequently carried articles translated from the
Journal des sçavans
.

The scientific journals also profited from the widespread scholarly concern to organise knowledge into large encyclopaedic publications, many published in parts. The journal was now conceived in much the same way, as a tool of reference to be archived and searched. Eighteenth-century readers were increasingly prone to treat their newspapers in precisely this way.
⁵
A journal, or paper, would have a double value: as a topical information sheet, and as an incremental archive of knowledge. It was a knowledge bank in which science played an increasingly important role.

The
Philosophical Transactions
and
Journal des sçavans
paved the way for a growing market in serious specialist journals, which would eventually cover a large range of topics. This would be one of the most buoyant and lucrative areas of the eighteenth-century book market. It would prove particularly important in France, where the market for news and current affairs publications was so constrained by the strictly enforced monopoly of the
Gazette
.
⁶
Around two hundred journals made their appearance there before the end of the seventeenth century. Between 1700 and the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 the figure was in excess of eight hundred. This was the age of specialist journals: among the most important were the prestigious
Journal économique
(1751–72), the
Observations de la physique
(1752–1823) and the
Journal de médecine
(1754–93). The journals established in this mid-century period were particularly successful, as these long-lived ventures bear witness: of 115 periodicals established between 1750 and 1759, 63 lasted a year and
21 ten years or more. Other journals served communities of interest in medicine, agriculture, commerce, music and art.

The development of a serious scholarly press added depth and weight to the periodical press pioneered by the newspapers. The serial model proved a highly effective mechanism for spreading the risk of encyclopaedic publications, improving cash flow and allowing the market to dictate the size of an edition. Publishers were not faced, as they were in the case of conventionally published books, with the prospects of warehouses full of unsold copies. The new periodicals also progressively broadened the market for professional research in a wide variety of fields, based on serious investigation backed by empirical data. This inevitably had its impact on the reporting of current affairs, encouraging both a turn towards analysis and an increasingly sceptical approach to tales and wonders that fell outside the range of explicable phenomena. It is in precisely this period that we witness a retreat, particularly in the metropolitan press, from the reporting of bizarre or supernatural events (unless they could be used to expose the credulity of country folk).
⁷

The market for science also proved remarkably broad. This was demonstrated when in 1691 John Dunton, an experienced London bookseller and publisher, embarked on one of the most innovative serial publications of this restless age.
The Athenian Mercury
was a periodical entirely devoted to readers’ questions, in all fields: science, religion, manners, courtship and history.
⁸
Readers sent their questions by penny post to Mr Smith's coffee house adjacent to Dunton's shop in the Stocks Market. The questions were answered by the Athenian Society, in essence Dunton and his two brothers-in-law. Correspondents were never identified, which allowed them to ask their questions without worrying about exposing their ignorance. It proved to be a winning formula. The
Athenian Mercury
was sold twice weekly for a penny, and Dunton and his fellow Athenians were inundated with questions. The editor was obliged to warn readers that they would not answer the same question twice, which of course obliged enthusiasts to collect back numbers to have access to the full range of the wisdom on offer.

The
Athenian Mercury
demonstrated to the English public, probably to their great surprise, that science was one of their greatest interests.
⁹
Science, broadly defined, provided 20 per cent of the questions. This was very different from the science of the
Philosophical Transactions
, but on the other hand it was also a far cry from the news-books and their monstrous births. Readers wanted to know the answers to simple, practical things and phenomena that they observed in the course of their everyday lives. Why is the water in the Baths hotter than in either springs or rivers? Whence the wind has its
force, and the reason for its changes; where extinguished fire goes.
¹⁰
All good questions.

Dunton closed the
Athenian Mercury
in 1697. The resumption of political journalism with the lapsing of the Licensing Act of 1695 had extended the range of serials available, and sales of his periodical were falling. But it is likely Dunton felt the venture had run its course. When a periodical depended so wholly on the personality and charisma of one individual, the pressure of weekly or bi-weekly publication was relentless; perhaps both Dunton and his readers were ready to move on. The
Athenian Mercury
nevertheless made a critical contribution to the development of the periodical genre. Beyond the inventive format of the interactive dialogue with readers, Dunton had also struck gold with his college of sages who delivered the responses. By creating this club, of which readers enjoyed a vicarious membership, Dunton had developed a conceit that found a lasting resonance both with readers and with the authors of future serials.
¹¹
Invited for their penny subscription to join a society of erudite and witty companions, readers could be drawn into a regular web of relationships that became a virtual neighbourhood, or a substitute for their family circle. This had a particular appeal for new city dwellers often disconnected from home, and open to new associations and new experiences. Here Dunton had planted a seed that would germinate in one of the most creative phases of English letters.

Mr Spectator

In 1672 another Mercury appeared in France, a journal that over the course of years would soar far above the high-minded
Journal des sçavans
. This was the
Mercure galant
and, as its name suggests, it had in mind a rather different set of readers. The
Mercure galant
offered a vivid miscellany of topical cultural and literary news. Court gossip was mixed with a hodge-podge of verses, melodies, literary reviews, obituaries, marriage and birth announcements. Its first editor, Jean Donneau de Visé, can be regarded as the founder of the society journal.
¹²

The
Mercure galant
was not above a certain high-mindedness. De Visé was a serious man, and a critic of the comedies of Molière. The
Mercure galant
was also, as was the way in France, protected by a royal monopoly, and de Visé enjoyed a handsome royal pension. So naturally the
Mercure galant
remained friendly to the court. The frequent articles flattering Louis XIV and lauding his conquests were not easily distinguishable from similar effusions in the
Gazette
. The
Mercure galant
would never be a tool of satire; its real influence was in showing the way to a new genre of periodical, the journal of society and manners. It was the signature creation of the eighteenth-century press.

13.2 The Athenian Society. Dunton's brains' trust in fact consisted of himself and his two brothers-in-law.

It took some time before the English press found a response to the success of the
Mercure galant
. Various review papers came and went; some were too high-minded, some, like Pierre Antoine Motteux's monthly
Gentleman's Journal
, too infrequent to catch the febrile temper of the times. But the
Gentleman's Journal
, with its rich miscellany of news, culture and entertainment, pointed the way towards a form of publication that offered the man of refinement a fresh window on contemporary affairs. If this could be mixed with wit and irony the result would be the talk of the town. So it was when in 1709 Richard Steele launched
The Tatler
, a thrice-weekly miscellany printed on both sides of a single folio half sheet.
¹³
Steele was already an experienced news man. Since 1707 he had been the editor of the
Gazette
, a lucrative but to Steele dull assignment.
¹⁴
In contrast to the ponderous detached tone of the
Gazette, The Tatler
would be witty and personal. As Steele conceived it, the journal would offer a mix of news from home and abroad, comment on new books and plays, gossip and commentary on contemporary affairs. It would also include original fiction and poetry (always reliable fillers for publications facing stiff deadlines).

The Tatler
took a little time to find its feet. Within a few months it had dropped its news reporting; this never fitted well with the facetious tone of the rest of the contents, and
The Tatler
was always likely, in any case, to be an additional purchase for regular readers of newspapers. The change of emphasis also reflected the influence of Joseph Addison, who joined Steele as a partner shortly after
The Tatler
’s launch. Under Addison
The Tatler
became less of a miscellany and more of an essay paper, each number offering an extended reflection on a single subject.
The Tatler
also vigorously pursued and gave a great deal of space to advertising: as many as 14 or 18 advertisements an issue, up to 150 a month. These promoted wigs, wheelchairs, birdcages, lotteries, cosmetics and medicines. As well as bringing in valuable revenue they held up a mirror to the changing taste of London society. Readers could look to them for tips on correct deportment as well as bargains.
¹⁵

In 1711, after just two years and 271 issues, Addison and Steele closed
The Tatler
; it would live on in book form, in collected editions. Two months later they launched
The Spectator
.
¹⁶
This, it proved, was their true masterpiece. Advertised as the ‘sober reflections of a detached observer’, Mr Spectator was never quite that; rather a wry, sometimes caustic and always penetrating observer of the foibles and peculiarities of London life. The enterprise was driven by the sheer brilliance of the writing. Addison and Steele ostensibly eschewed coverage of the news, but the distinction was always more rhetorical
than real.
The Tatler
included essays on the lottery and duelling, and
The Spectator
on the Bank of England, the social status of credit and the moral value of money. Was an essay on duelling addressing a social issue or writing a comedy of manners? With Steele it is hard to say. But the proclaimed bar on politics did at least give the authors licence for merciless satire of the coffee-house culture and the rage for news, never more comical than when pursued by a humourless upstart tradesman. An upholsterer, for instance: