Print Culture and the Blackwood Tradition (Studies in Book and Print Culture)

In late 1804, William Blackwood established a small publishing and bookselling firm in Edinburgh. Over the next 175 years, William Blackwood & Sons became one of the leading publishers in Britain, enjoying both local and international success. Early on it championed the works of Scottish writers, and later gained acclaim as the publisher of G.W. Steevens, George Eliot, Charles Whibley, and Joseph Conrad. Its political influence was also widespread; in 1817 it founded the monthly Blackwood's Magazine , which featured literary, critical, political, and journalistic commentary and analysis, and was a powerful force in British conservative politics. Two hundred years after the founding of this significant influence on British literary, political, and social history, this collection of essays reappraises the place of the Blackwood firm and its magazine in literary and print culture history. Editor David Finkelstein brings together an array of eminent scholars and critics from the US, Canada, Scandinavia, and the UK to examine Blackwoods from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. The resulting collection covers an impressive range of subject areas, including Romantic and Victorian literature, print culture, media history, and New Journalism. In late 1804, William Blackwood established a small publishing and bookselling firm in Edinburgh. Over the next 175 years, William Blackwood and Sons became one of the leading publishers in Britain, enjoying both local and international success. Early on it championed the works of Scottish writers, and later gained acclaim as the publisher of G.W. Steevens, George Eliot, Charles Whibley, and Joseph Conrad. Its political influence was also widespread; in 1817 it founded the monthly Blackwood's Magazine, which featured literary, critical, political, and journalistic commentary and analysis, and was a powerful force in British conservative politics. Two hundred years after the founding of this significant influence on British literary, political, and social history, this collection of essays reappraises the place of the Blackwood firm and its magazine in literary and print culture history. Editor David Finkelstein brings together an array of eminent scholars and critics from the US, Canada, Scandinavia, and the UK to examine Blackwoods from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. The resulting collection covers an impressive range of subject areas, including Romantic and Victorian literature, print culture, media history, and New Journalism Contents 5 Illustrations 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 13 Scottish Beginnings 31 William Blackwood and the Dynamics of Success 31 ‘The mapp’d out skulls of Scotia’: Blackwood’s and the Scottish Phrenological Controversy 59 Blackwood’s and Romantic Nationalism 80 Blackwood’s Subversive Scottishness 100 Consolidating Reputations 129 ‘On behalf of the Right’: Archibald Alison, Political Journalism, and Blackwood’s Conservative Response to Reform, 1830–1870 129 Editing Blackwood’s; or, What Do Editors Do? 156 Maga, the Shilling Monthlies, and the New Journalism 194 Preserving Status 225 At the Court of Blackwood’s: In the Kampong of Hugh Clifford 225 ‘A sideways ending to it all’: G.W. Steevens, Blackwood, and the Daily Mail 246 The Muse of Blackwood’s: Charles Whibley and Literary Criticism in the World 269 Appendix 297 Bibliography 301 Contributors 319 Index 323