Les Standiford Read Free Page A

(
Clarissa,
1740) had come before them. This form of writing, a rendering of imaginary characters involved in a compelling narrative taking place in a world that seemed almost real, all of it designed primarily for the entertainment and not the edification of its audience, proved extremely popular among the British reading public.
    In contrast to previous publishing staples—the Bible, schoolbooks, hymnals, instruction manuals, and the like—novels were ephemeral, meant to be consumed and discarded. Thus was created an ongoing demand for new works, not only for works of literary quality but also for a long line of adventure stories, gothic tales, and romances of all sorts. The “silver fork” novel, set against the backdrop of British high society, was one of many such subtypes popular in the decades immediately preceding Dickens’s ascent, with Disraeli’s
Vivian Grey
(1827) being one of the more notable in the genre. It has been estimated that between 1815 and 1850, some 3,500 novels were published in an effort to fill the demand.
    And while these novels were generally printed in small editions of 1,000 to 2,000, some reached higher levels. Sir Walter Scott, who published his first novel,
Waverly,
in 1814, and who would bring out a new book nearly every year until his death in 1832, was the first writer whose success suggested that one might actually make a career solely as a novelist. His
Ivanhoe
sold out its initial printing of 10,000 within a few weeks of its publication in 1819, an unprecedented number. By Dickens’s time, no book had again reached such heights, but that did not keep publishers from hoping, of course.
    Initially, publishers sold their books directly to the public, working primarily by mail order. Advertisements were placed in newspapers and magazines, which were delivered by post and newsboys in London and throughout the country, and readers ordered what appeared interesting. In time, newspapers and magazines began to compile their own lists of new and recommended books, and by the mid-1700s, critical reviews were appearing on a regular basis to guide readers in their choices.
    Most of the publishing companies in the 1700s were small family enterprises, and in order to dispose of unsold stock threatening to crowd them out of their homes and small offices, many firms opened shops on the premises to serve a walk-in trade. Others, such as Chapman and Hall in 1830, began business as booksellers who also intended to produce many of their own wares. These vertically integrated enterprises, in which editing, printing, marketing, and sales often went on under the same roof, persisted well into the middle of the nineteenth century, though there were a few stand-alone bookshops that sold stationery, magazines, newspapers, and notions, as well.
    By the early 1800s, significant change had come to publishing. The industrial revolution not only encouraged specialization in manufacturing but in general business practice as well. The goals and methods for the successful design, manufacture, wholesaling, and retailing of any product are quite distinct, after all, and it is no different in the editing, printing, distribution, and retailing of books. Thus, those vertical publishing enterprises began to fragment, according to the strengths and interests of those involved.
    By 1800, for instance, the Longman family had begun its move out of retailing and into publishing exclusively; by the 1820s the firm would further limit its scope to education, a focus that endures to this day. In the 1840s, William Henry Smith, the son of a West End stationer and erstwhile wholesaler, laid the foundation for contemporary chain retailing, when he established the first network of bookstalls at the nation’s railway stations, his enterprise known then and now as W. H. Smith.
    The epicenter of book retailing in London had shifted as well. While printing and publishing businesses remained in the central city,