London Newspapers Research Articles

Blackwood's "Maga", Lockhart's "Peter's Letters", and the Politics of Publishing

Ms. 4004 OF THE BLACKWOOD PAPERS IN THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF Scotland includes a series of lengthy letters to William Blackwood from William Davies, partner in London publishing firm of Cadell and Davies. In April 1819 Cadell and Davies had become London publisher of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, notorious Maga, after that function had been abandoned by Baldwin, Cradock and Joy in July 1818, and then by a disgusted John Murray in March 1819. (1) Davies' letters are a chatty, detailed, sometimes day-to-day account of London literary life and strategies of London book-promotion--everything that Blackwood in Edinburgh should know to further their shared business ventures. Prominent among those ventures was forthcoming Letters to His Kinsfolk by Peter Morris, in which Cadell and Davies had accepted a half-share. Much may certainly be done, both at Edinburgh and London, to prepare public interest for these Letters, Davies believed, and he was pleased to inform his Edinburgh partner that two London newspapers already had begun to publish extracts from book. And success of Letters might, in turn, counteract rising criticism of Maga, another shared concern. Peter's Letters have a double duty to perform--one of which was to salve wounds of Archibald Constable, Wordsworth, Coleridge and other Britons on both sides of Tweed who had been bloodied by Magazine. We are, now and then, made to hear complaints of so many people being roughly, or even unjustly, handled in it and we do think it has somehow acquired a character for severity, which will require some time and pains to wipe away. Letters might be that solvent: ... you have sent out into world best pioneer in defence of your Magazine that could possibly have been managed, wrote Davies, switching metaphors; am full of hopes that, when 'Letters' are published, not only Mr Coleridge, but many others that I am thinking of, influenced by manner in which alleged objectionable points of [Mag.sup.e] are so handsomely admitted, will be much readier to join your standard than heretofore. It was essential for good of Maga, then, that Letters be promoted widely, in a campaign that would include a visit by Blackwood to London in month after Letters was published: Preparatory to actual publication, you will, of course, be prepared with a list of persons, both in Scotland and here, to whom it will be expedient to send book, as presents; and feeling as I do, how essentially Letters are calculated to benefit interests of your Magazine, I have hesitation in recommending that list of presents in England be a very numerous one--Amongst others, I would certainly advise a liberal distribution, tempered by prudence, amongst editors of newspapers--Mr Perry, Dr Stoddart.... (2) Davies' tactful hints of Maga's troubles could not have surprised William Blackwood. Since his magazine's inception in April 1817 (titled The Edinburgh Monthly Magazine for its first six numbers) Blackwood had watched its sales and enemies increase and its allies diminish. Henry Mackenzie, Patrick Fraser Tytler, and Dr. Thomas McCrie, men of some influence in Edinburgh, had refused to continue as contributors. (3) Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, Maga's first London publisher, had borne brunt of London's enmity against magazine, and then decided that their connection with Blackwood was no longer compatible with a just regard to our own interests. (4) John Murray had then become London publisher, only to lament the appearance of a Magazine which has involved everyone connected with it in alternate anxiety disgrace & misery. (5) After publication of Chaldee Manuscript--James Hogg's, John Wilson's and John Gibson Lockhart's apocalyptic parody--one John Graham Dalyell, member of Faculty of Advocates, had initiated legal proceedings against Blackwood, and Lockhart feared that Maga might be banned from Faculty of Advocates Library, a shameful loss of literary caste in Edinburgh. …

Brief Encounter: Richard Aldington and the Englishwoman

Brief Encounter: Richard Aldington and the Englishwoman Gemma Bristow University of Cambridge WHEN, in 1974, Norman T. Gates published an edition of Richard Aldington's uncollected poems, he commented on the difficulty of recovering the whole of an author's corpus. "It is probable," Gates acknowledged, "that other poems not included in The Complete Poems are buried in obscure 'little' magazines and remain to be recovered. This is especially so since Aldington habitually published in French and American periodicals as well as in those of his own country."1 The era in which early modernists such as Aldington (1892-1962) wrote was notable for an explosion of "obscure" magazines and papers, not only devoted to the artistic ferment of the time but to radical political and social thought. Some crossed disciplines; many were ephemeral. This quantity and diversity of outlets is a challenge to the bibliographer 's and the anthologist's task. Authors' own recollections of their magazine credits may choose to highlight the more prestigious publications and to gloss over vanished allegiances. Resources like the Little Magazines Index and the indices of newspapers offer valuable information , but these do not cover all outlets, particularly those that fall outside the clear-cut categories of arts magazine or newspaper. Judging where "else" an author may have published requires not a little detective work or luck. Mining one more journal may, or may not, turn up a poem. This is true even for an author such as Aldington, who published relatively little juvenilia in obscure outlets before finding his mature poetic voice and an established position in the literary press. I have learned of three uncollected poems by Aldington that can now supplement Professor Gates's edition. These poems were published in 1912 in a London monthly journal, the Englishwoman, one of the many contemporary magazines dedicated to promoting women's suffrage. ELT 49 : 1 2006 Aldington's contributions to the journal consisted of an original verse, "Night," in February 1912, a translation, "Greek Epigram," in May 1912, and a second original verse, "Hêlas!," in July 1912. Aside from their interest as some of Aldington's earliest surviving publications, what is particularly noteworthy about these works is that Aldington is not otherwise known to have published in the suffrage press. This fact may explain why they have long been overlooked; the context in which they appeared was not one with which Aldington is commonly associated . In 1912, Aldington's career was at a nascent stage in which he was just beginning to experience semi-regular freelance sales. He was then nineteen years old. The previous year, financial troubles had forced him prematurely to abandon a classics degree at University College, London. Dismissing proposals by well-meaning friends that he turn to clerking for a living, he determined to follow his vocation as a writer, and sought to earn money through a combination of poetry, literary articles and hack journalism. From February 1912, his poems and translations of poems began to appear in London newspapers. By November of the same year, a few months after his brief association with the Englishwoman ended, his first original works in free verse had appeared in the Chicago magazine Poetry, with a note identifying the author as "one of the Imagistes." Aldington had written poetry seriously from his early teens. At the time he left university he had assembled, according to his 1941 autobiography, "a portfolio containing among other things twenty or thirty of my poems and translations of poems."2 Some of these were free verse based on readings in Greek literature and represented what he would call his "first real poem[s]."3 Others were formal verse in the derivative mode of the period. The translations, particularly those that were renderings of Greek poetry, suggest the transition from the latter mode to the former. Aldington hawked the contents of this "portfolio " around editorial offices, finding a market for the formal verses and the freer translations but, until Poetry was founded late in 1912, none for the free verse that more accurately reflected his found style. Most of the editorial contacts subsequently recorded in his memoirs were with newspapers; the Englishwoman was not mentioned. His...

Russia and the Russians

This paper examines the portrait of Russia and the Russians presented in the columns of the major London newspapers during the rule of Alexander II (1855-81), when Russia was undergoing profound political and social change. It argues that despite the development of economic and political ties between the two countries the British press mainly presented a distorted picture of Russia. The brief visits of overseas correspondents, not speaking the language of the country, and looking mostly for cultural differences, failed to change the negative picture formed during the first half of the nineteenth century. Russia was still perceived as a semi-barbaric and despotic country and this image was conveyed in thousands of copies of the printed daily newspapers circulating all over Britain.

A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study to Investigate the Effectiveness of a Static Magnet to Relieve Dysmenorrhea

The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that a specially designed, static magnet of 2700 gauss, attached over the pelvic area, could relieve menstrual pain. This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, postal questionnaire study. The study was conducted in a primary care, single center. Sixty-five (65) women (mean age 29.1 +/- 1.52 years) were recruited from an advertisement in a London newspaper. The entry criterion was regular dysmenorrhea. The exclusion criterion was known secondary dysmenorrhea. Of the 65 women who were enrolled, 35 completed the study. A questionnaire-based assessment was completed by each subject and checked by telephone before and after random allocation to use of either the static magnet device (2700 gauss) or an identical, weaker magnetic placebo device (140 gauss). Assessment was made by telephone before and after a complete menstrual cycle. None of the participants was examined or seen face-to-face. The main outcome measures were level of pain, using the McGill Pain and Visual Analogue Scales, and ratings of associated symptoms such as irritability, restriction of usual activities, and painkiller consumption. There was a significant reduction (p < 0.02) in pain in the magnet group compared to the placebo group. Pain score differences (McGill pain score before-pain score after use of device) were -17 (-53, 13) (median and interquartile ranges) in the magnet group and -5.0 (-29, 27) in the placebo group. The 95% Mann-Whitney confidence intervals for the median difference between the magnet and placebo groups (magnet-placebo) were -53.0 to 23.38. A reduction in irritability symptoms in the magnet group approached statistical significance (p = 0.056). Despite the small number of participants, the level of significance reached in the reduction of pain merits reporting. This is a pilot study to a much larger study of the same device as an analgesic in women with primary dysmenorrhea.

Book of the Month: The Autonomous Patient: Ending Paternalism in Medical Care

Book of the Month: The Autonomous Patient: Ending Paternalism in Medical Care

In the Theater of Counterrevolution: Loyalist Association and Conservative Opinion in the 1790s

Conservative movements have generally played a negative role in accounts of the history of political expression in Britain during the period of the French Revolution. Where E. P. Thompson and others on the Left tended to identify radicalism with the disenfranchised and with a struggle for the rights of free expression and public assembly, conservative activists have been associated with state campaigns of political repression and legal interference. Indeed, conservatism in this period is typically conceived in negative terms, as antiradicalism or counterrevolution. If this has been the view of hostile commentators, it is consistent with a more sympathetic mythology that sees nothing novel about the conservative principles that emerged in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain. They represent an establishment response to alien challenges. Even where conservatives set about mobilizing the resources of print, opinion, and assembly in a constructive fashion, the reputation for interference has endured. John Reeves's Association for Preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers is a useful case in point, since it managed in its brief but enterprising history to combine fierce anti-Jacobinism with the later eighteenth century's rising tide of voluntary civic activism. The association came together at the Crown and Anchor Tavern when a group of self-professed “private men” decided “to form ourselves into an Association” and announced their intentions through the major London newspapers in November and December of 1792. The original committee then called on others “to make similar exertions in their respective neighbourhoods,” forming energetic local associations that would be linked by regular correspondence with the central London committee. In this way, the loyalist movement grew with astonishing speed.

We shall soon be nothing but transparent heaps of jelly to each other

We shall soon be nothing but transparent heaps of jelly to each other

Mary Robinson's Poetry and the London Newspapers

Mary Robinson's Poetry and the London Newspapers

Mary Robinson's Poetry and the London Newspapers

Mary Robinson's Poetry and the London Newspapers

Bin Laden's Last Stand

In last several months, U.S. administration has aimed its most extreme rhetoric person of Osama bin Laden. In his public statements, President George Bush has routinely referred to bin Laden as the Evil and the Evildoer, and he has used phrases like wanted dead or alive and we'll smoke him out of his hole to indicate administration's resolve in bringing bin Laden to justice. The rhetorical excess evidenced in statements about bin Laden stands in marked contrast to restraint administration has exercised in relation to Afghan people, Muslims and Islamic religion in general, for all of which White House has gone out of its way to signal its respect. While administration has been trying to isolate bin Laden rhetorically, we also hear reports that al Qaeda leader is viewed very differently by many in Middle East and South Asia. We can't speak in terms of percentages, but news reports make it clear that many see bin Laden as a hero on horseback, intent on righting wrongs committed against Muslim people. It is uncertain if those who demonstrate on street in support of bin Laden know much about his political views or would be pleased to live in an Islamic state of sort Taliban established in Afghanistan, but that doesn't really seem to matter. At a time of general discontent with political and economic situation in Middle East, bin Laden offers image of someone who stands up for his beliefs and is incorruptible and unblinking before those in power. One dimension of rhetorical divide between how bin Laden is perceived in Muslim world and in United States concerns manner in which his demise might come to be understood in Muslim world. In this regard, recollecting an event from an earlier era might be instructive because of parallels it shares with America's pursuit of Osama bin Laden in mountains of Afghanistan. The earlier episode took place in summer of 1897 on frontier between what was then called India and Afghanistan.1 An Afghan religious leader known as Mulla of Hadda organized Pakhtun tribal people of border area to join a jihad whose goal was to force British out of India. For several months, British came under tremendous pressure, as garrisons up and down frontier were placed under attack. These assaults awoke in British minds memories of so-called Mutiny of 1857 when hundreds of British had been killed, and newspaper commentators of time spread fear that jihad would spread like a contagion, affecting an ever wider circle of Muslims in India, including native regiments, who would be inspired to join in general insurrection. One of those who recognized seriousness of situation was young Winston Churchill, who finagled a job as a stringer with a London newspaper so he could accompany British expeditionary force sent out to deal with Mulla of Hadda and his allies. For Churchill, this was not simply a local uprising. It was, for him, as conflict with bin Laden is for many in this country, a clash between civilization and barbarism. Great Britain was, in Churchill's words, pursuing a course marked out ... by an all-wise hand ... of bearing civilization and good government to uttermost ends of earth.2 The Mulla of Hadda, or the Mad Mulla, as he was often referred to in press, represented forces of superstition, intent on keeping people of India cloaked in darkness. The Mulla of Hadda did not have access to al Jazeera satellite television to spread his message, but he did have services of religious students, known as taliban who, according to one pair of contemporary British commentators, were at bottom of all mischief in country, instigators and often perpetrators of bulk of crime. They use their religious status to live free on people, who are too superstitious to turn them out, even when they destroy peace of family circle. …

History as the Metaphor through Which the Current World Is Viewed: British and American newspapers' uses of history following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks

Journalists have long been expected to provide information on important events as they occur: the who, what, where and when of breaking news. Yet, they also give the why and how of an event. Historical context can help interpret as well as augment the narrative, by tapping a collective memory, adding new evidence, revising a once agreed-upon past or imparting lessons and values. Although trained to examine the present, journalists in London, New York and Washington drew upon the past to try and explain the horrific events of 11 September 2001. This article examines the coverage of that astounding event with its global consequences and considers the uses of history by the New York Times , Washington Post and London-based newspapers, The Times and The Independent , in their coverage of the 11 September attacks. Historical references considered include context, nostalgia, analogies, values and past assumptions: categories defined earlier in the work of Richard Neustadt and Ernest May. London and American newspapers showed similar historical references, but also differences, which this article explains.

Newspapers, Politics, and Public Opinion in Late Eighteenth-Century England

Introduction 1. Newspapers and Newspaper Readers in London 2. Newspaper Politics in the Capital 3. London Newspapers and Reform 4. Provincial Newspapers and Newspaper Readers 5. The Politics of the Provincial Press 6. Provincial Newspapers and Reform Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

Advertisements for Books in London Newspapers, 1760-1785

Advertisements for Books in London Newspapers, 1760-1785

Do Doctors Get a Bad Rap in the Press

Is the media more likely to portray a negative or positive image of physicians? In an attempt to answer that question, these authors studied all articles published in 3 popular London newspapers in the month of November, …

“Deja vu all over again”

“Florida Board Restricts Office Surgery” states a current Associated Press story. “General Anesthetics Banned From Use in Dental Surgeries” blares a recent headline in a London newspaper. What's next? Once again we are seeing a challenge to the practice of office-based surgery under general anesthesia, and this time it has international as well as national implications. Although these curbs are not currently directed against oral and maxillofacial surgeons, this certainly could happen. The unfortunate situation is that, as has often occurred in the past, we get caught up in rules and regulations directed at others even though this was not the intent, because of a failure of those involved in making these changes to appreciate the difference in qualifications and training among the groups concerned.

Bust without boom

Just like injectables, oral contraceptives (OCs), including progestin-only ¿minipill¿ and ¿morning-after¿ pill regimens, have experienced a bust without a boom. Fear of political and religious backlash over emergency contraceptives containing estrogen and progestin prompted large companies not to market these regimens. Another major factor in the bust phase of OC use and acceptance has been a small coterie of English and American epidemiologists focused on the adverse effects of Ocs, including risks of thrombotic events, heart attacks, and strokes. The media played a crucial role in the bust phase of these OCs. In the UK, the alleged increase of cancer risk with pill use, which leaked before publication in London newspapers, resulted in 50,000 additional unintended pregnancies. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that boom-and-bust cycles will continue simply because many of the actors in this drama have too great a vested interest to desist. Groups involved in this field must recognize the hazards that come with the territory and be proactive, anticipatory, and well armed with facts--and get good with media access. Drug companies should think on a long-term basis the potential effects of leaving the field, as they have done, or shooting down competitive innovations.

Sensational Stories, Endangered Bodies: Women’s Work and the New Journalism in England in the 1890s

The cry of labor has seized the world’s ear. The Press, the Legislature, and the world at large is listening to the voice of labor…. When this journal first resolved to secure a hearing for all working-class questions, there was scarcely a column of a leading London newspaper which was then open. Now, following our lead, every great daily paper has its labor section…. Nor is it only the press which is watchful. It is the readers of the Press….This self-promoting editorial in the Star in 1891 made a critical point: labor issues were becoming a standard feature in daily newspapers. Sweating, loopholes in factory legislation, and the famous Dock and Match Girls’ strikes were among the subjects found in the pages of papers such as the Star. This trend in reporting was part of the “New Journalism” that developed in England between the 1880s and 1914. In an attempt to cater to the tastes of mass audiences, there was a shift in emphasis from parliamentary and political news to sports, gossip, crime, and sex. Papers, for instance, reported on the brutal Jack the Ripper murders in the East End of London. New journalists and editors, like W. T. Stead and Thomas P. O’Connor, also produced interviews, exposes, and political editorials in order to influence public opinion and promote what Stead called “government by journalism.” Stead produced what has been called the most successful piece of scandal journalism of the nineteenth century, “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” which depicted young girls for sale to older men. Passage of the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act, which raised the age of consent for sex to sixteen, was one of its political consequences.

Sensational Stories, Endangered Bodies: Women’s Work and the New Journalism in England in the 1890s

The cry of labor has seized the world’s ear. The Press, the Legislature, and the world at large is listening to the voice of labor…. When this journal first resolved to secure a hearing for all working-class questions, there was scarcely a column of a leading London newspaper which was then open. Now, following our lead, every great daily paper has its labor section…. Nor is it only the press which is watchful. It is the readers of the Press….This self-promoting editorial in the Star in 1891 made a critical point: labor issues were becoming a standard feature in daily newspapers. Sweating, loopholes in factory legislation, and the famous Dock and Match Girls’ strikes were among the subjects found in the pages of papers such as the Star. This trend in reporting was part of the “New Journalism” that developed in England between the 1880s and 1914. In an attempt to cater to the tastes of mass audiences, there was a shift in emphasis from parliamentary and political news to sports, gossip, crime, and sex. Papers, for instance, reported on the brutal Jack the Ripper murders in the East End of London. New journalists and editors, like W. T. Stead and Thomas P. O’Connor, also produced interviews, exposes, and political editorials in order to influence public opinion and promote what Stead called “government by journalism.” Stead produced what has been called the most successful piece of scandal journalism of the nineteenth century, “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” which depicted young girls for sale to older men. Passage of the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act, which raised the age of consent for sex to sixteen, was one of its political consequences.

The constabulary agitation of 1882

For two weeks in late July and early August 1882 newspapers in Ireland and London carried accounts of discontent among members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.), which policed the whole of Ireland except Dublin. The Irish land war of 1879–82 was ending, and the R.I.C. had burnished their reputation for stolid loyalty among British officialdom and the Irish public at large. Problems among Ireland’s police may have been disquieting, particularly at Dublin Castle and in landowner circles, but in the news accounts and other papers that survive there were few expressions of surprise that, at the end of three years of often intense duty during the land war, the men of the R.I.C. were tired, restive and eager to draw attention to their concerns. By mid-1882 the morale and financial resources of individual members of the R.I.C. were drained. The problem of unreimbursed expenses incurred on land war duty, a special problem for married men with families, impinged on policemen’s living standards. Fatigue, frustration and, in individual cases, actual hardship compelled members of the R.I.C. at stations throughout the country to adopt the unusual expedient of public agitation. The excitement among the Irish police during the summer of 1882 resulted in remedial legislation and changes in working conditions that proved to be a defining point in the development of the R.I.C. as a career for young men in Ireland, rather than a stopover on the way to emigration.

Bishop Lynch's Civil War Pamphlet on Slavery

David C.R. Heisser* President Jefferson Davis in 1864 appointed Bishop Patrick Neison Lynch of Charleston, South Carolina, to be Commissioner of the Confederate States of America to the States of the Church. An ardent Confederate, Bishop Lynch undertook a mission to Europe to win recognition by the Holy See. As part of his contribution to the Southern cause he wrote a tract on slavery which was published in Italian, German, and French, but never in English.' This article discusses Lynch's participation in the Confederate propaganda effort, considers his ideas in the context of the time, and presents representative selections from his original English text. Lynch accepted appointment on March 3, 1864; on April 4 Secretary of State Judah P Benjamin instructed the Bishop to seek recognition and, more importantly, to work for enlightening opinions and molding impressions of European leaders. Lynch was to receive a monthly salary of $1,000 plus $500 for travel.2 In Patrick Lynch the Confederate government chose an acknowledged leader of the Catholic Church in America. Born in Ireland, he was brought up in South Carolina and studied for the priesthood at the seminary of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide), the department of the Roman Curia that administered the Catholic Church in America. Lynch had received his doctorate in Rome and spoke fluent Italian. He knew Alessandro Cardinal Barnabo, Prefect of the Propaganda Fide and an influential advisor to Pope Pius IX.3 When Fort Sumter fell to the Confederates Lynch ordered a Te Deum sung in his cathedral.4 He championed Southern independence in a public exchange of letters with Archbishop John Hughes of New York.5 Jefferson Davis admired Lynch for his work with sick and wounded servicemen and prisoners of war, and the Bishop was a member of the President's entourage during the latter's 1863 visit to Charleston.6 In an appeal to his faithful for prayers for peace Lynch praised the Confederate government and armies.7 During April, 1864, the Bishop ran the blockade and sailed to Europe.8 In Paris he met with Confederate agent John Slidell and propagandists Henry Hotze and Edwin De Leon, a fellow South Carolinian. Emperor Napoleon III gave Lynch an audience on June 14, and a few days later the Bishop traveled to Rome, arriving on the 26th.9 He took lodgings in that city, where he was to entertain prominent people and acquire a reputation for hospitality.'o To Giacomo Cardinal Antonelli, Papal Secretary of State, he communicated the Confederacy's desire for recognition. Antonelli was polite but non-committal. On July 4 Pope Pius IX received Lynch in private audience as Charleston's ordinary, but not as Confederate representative. Pius said of North and South, It is clear that you are two nations, expressed willingness to mediate and opposition to sudden emancipation. But still, remarked the Pontiff, something might be done looking to an improvement in [the slaves'] position or state, and to a gradual preparation for their freedom at a future opportune time. The Bishop had subsequent, cordial conversations with Pius and Antonelli, but made no progress toward recognition. Antonelli assured United States Minister Rufus King that Lynch was received only as a bishop making his ad limina visit.12 Just after his first audience with the Pope, Lynch wrote Benjamin, I am now engaged in drawing up a paper on the actual condition and treatment of slaves at the South, at the request of Msgr. [Francesco] Nardi, one of the judges of the Rota, or supreme court of the papal States.13 All Confederate agents contended with the bad name slavery gave their country. These agents had organized a propaganda effort in Europe. Henry lotze edited and published the Index, a London newspaper presenting the Southern perspective. Across the Channel, the Emperor and his supporters generally favored the South, and progovernment newspapers reflected this, but Napoleon III had to pay close attention to French public opinion. …