Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/297

 s. m. APRIL 1,1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

241

LONDON, H ATI JtD AY, APRIL 1, 1905.

CONTENTS. -No. 66.

NOTES : Diamond Jubilee of 'The Newspaper Press Directory,' 241 The Great Seal of Scotland, 242 Biblio- graphies. 243 Christianity and its Forbears. 245 Russian Baltic Fleet in 17SS Wirral Hermit Vadstena Church, Norway Spenser's ' Bpithalamiou,' 216 John Gwynneth The "Weeping Willow, 24-5.

QUERIES :-Authors and their First Books-St. Aylott Diving-bell War Medals Battle-axe Guard, 247 Vul- gate " February fill dyke" Von Gordon Family Cromer Street The Horseferry, Westminster Little of Halstead, 248 Palindrome MacBrlean Surname 'Secrets in Art and Nature' Ophelia "Our lives are songs " Warlow, German Place-name History of Ear- rings E. Samuel-Twins, 249.

REPLIES : Jacobean Houses in Fleet Street Con- Con- traction, 250 Marmont Family Schools First Established Bishop Colenso Heraldic Persehouse : Sabine, 251 " Galapine" Parrel 1 of the Pavilion Theatre " Mon- mouth Street of literature" Martello Towers, 252 Church Music Spur-post Wooden Fonts, 253 Molly Lepel's Descent Compter Prison London Street-names, 254 Local ' Notes and Queries 'Coliseums Old and New De Keleseye Family "A shoulder of mutton," 255 Stratford Residents The Yule "Clog" Ainsty " Pom- pelmous" Queen of Duncan II., 256 Great Hollow Elm John Butler, M.P., 257.

NOTES ON BOOKS :' Abstracts of Wills, 1620' 'Harms- worth Encyclopaedia ' 'Life and Times of St. Boniface' Heine's Poems " Heinemann's Favourite Classics " Bell's "Miniature Series of Great Writers."

BoDkselltrs' Catalogues.

Notices to Correspondents.

DIAMOND JUBILEE OF 'THE NEWSPAPER PRESS DIRECTORY.'

THE diamond jubilee of this valuable guide deserves record in 'N. & Q.' When the first volume was issued in 1846 the press was in its infancy, and a small 12mo was sufficient to give full particulars of all the journals then published. The present volume is a handsome royal 8vo containing over 600 pp. Those desirous of studying the progress of the press should look through the sixty volumes published by Messrs. Mitchell, for in them they will find a complete record year by year. The advance during the last five years has been by leaps and bounds. Especially is this noticeable with the daily and the illustrated press : these have increased in a most marvellous degree.

In 1846, the first year of the 'Directory,' there were only 12 daily papers pub- lished in England and 2 in Ireland ; now there are 184 published in England, 18 in Ireland, and 29 in Wales. Scotland, and the Channel Isles. In 1846 the total number of papers published in the United Kingdom was 551 ; now the number is 2,461. Maga- zines have also progressed in proportion. In 1846 there were only 200; now there are

2,758, of which 600 are of a religious cha- racter. The restrictions and taxation until 1861, when the press was made entirely free L>y the repeal of the paper duties, were so great that only large capitalists could incur bhe risk of starting a newspaper. Any one printing or publishing a paper not duly stamped incurred a penalty of 50. for every single copy. The advertisement duty Is. Qd. upon each advertisement had to be paid within twenty-eight days, and the authori- ties refused to supply stamps if the duty was in arrear. Mr. Ingram, the founder of The Illustrated London News, stated in 1851 to Sir Charles Wood, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he paid more, in many cases, for advertisement duty than he received for the advertisements, as it fre- quently happened that he never received a farthing of the amount due to him. There were several modes adopted by adver- tisers to avoid the tax, including dogs carry- ing advertisements, and advertising vans. Tickets for the Panorama of the Nile at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, were dropped all over London by means of balloons, the finder having the privilege of admission at half- price. I have one of these, picked up in Leicester Square. Displayed advertisements in the daily papers were not adopted for many years, The Times being specially con- servative in the matter, and four-fifths of the advertisements in that paper were, on an average, under ten lines.

On looking at 'The Newspaper Press Directory' for 1856 it is seen at a glance what an impetus had been given by the repeal of the compulsory stamp. Among the new-comers was The Saturday Heview, started on the 3rd of November, 1855. The opening address stated that "the immediate motive of coming before the public is fur- nished by the impetus given to periodical literature by the repeal of the Newspaper Stamp Act." The stamp had been abolished in the previous June. By the new Act it was optional for newspapers to print upon stamped or unstamped paper ; but the privilege of retransmission by post was limited to a period of fifteen days. The weight was not to exceed four ounces for a penny. Mr. Cowan advocated a halfpenny postage for every two ounces, but Mr. Glad- stone believed that this would entail a heavy loss. Previous to the abolition of the stamp it was easy to know the exact circulation of each paper, as this was given in the Parlia- mentary returns. The Illustrated London Neivs had a sale of 130,000, and The Times 59,000. The Athenaeum, The Builder, and a few others