Notes and Queries

Notes and Queries, also styled Notes & Queries, is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".[1] Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative".[1] The journal has a long history, having been established in 1849 in London;[2] it is now published by Oxford University Press.

This article is about the quarterly publication. For the newspaper column with the same title, see Notes & Queries.

Notes and Queries
DisciplineEnglish language, English literature, lexicography, history
LanguageEnglish
Publication details
History1849 to present
Publisher
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Notes Queries
Indexing
ISSN0029-3970
Links

The journal was originally subtitled "a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc".[2] It is now subtitled "For readers and writers, collectors and librarians".[1] Its motto was once "When found, make a note of",[2] the catchphrase of Capt. Cuttle, a character in Dickens's novel Dombey and Son.

It is the 250th-most-quoted source in the Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.), giving 1,633 quotations, many being first evidence of a word or a particular meaning.[3]

Format

Notes and Queries was first published in 1849 as a weekly periodical edited by W. J. Thoms.[2] It was founded as an academic correspondence magazine, in which scholars and interested amateurs could exchange knowledge on folklore, literature and history. The format consisted of "Notes" (miscellaneous findings of correspondents that they and the editors considered of interest to the readership), and "Queries" (and responses to queries), which formed the bulk of the publication.[2] The magazine has been likened to a 19th-century version of a moderated Internet newsgroup.[4]

Many of the entries in the journal for its first seventy years were only a few paragraphs long, and occasionally as short as a sentence or two. Very frequent contributors include the Rev. Walter W. Skeat, one of the most important figures in the field of English etymology, and Eliza Gutch, a founding member of The Folklore Society. The foundation of such a society was suggested by Gutch through a query to the publication. Gutch contributed to the publication for over seventy years, using the pseudonym "St Swithin".[5][6]

Today the magazine is produced as an academic journal. The articles are typically much longer than they were during the journal's early years, though they are still shorter than those of the typical academic journal. In addition, the "Notes" now far outweigh the "Queries", and book reviews have also been introduced. The focus is now almost entirely on literature.

Namesakes

Over 20 county or regional publications across England, mostly launched in the late 19th century, adopted a similar "notes and queries" format; 16 of which, beginning with Gloucestershire Notes and Queries in 1879, included the term within their titles.[7] Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset (launched in 1888) and Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries (launched 1900) both survive in regular publication. There have been several incarnations of American Notes and Queries.[8] There are also Canadian Notes & Queries and Kōtare: New Zealand Notes and Queries.

Notes and Queries has also given its name to a number of columns and sections within wider-ranging publications. These include a regular "Notes & Queries" feature in The Guardian newspaper, started in November 1989.[9]

Anthologies

The following anthologies of selections from Notes and Queries have appeared.[10]

Year Title Publisher
1857 Milleducia: A Thousand Pleasant Things selected from Notes and Queries Appleton
1858 Choice Notes from Notes and Queries Bell & Daldy
2017 Captain Cuttle's Mailbag: History, Folklore & Victorian Pedantry from the Pages of "Notes and Queries" Laboratory Books

References
  1. From the inner sleeve of all modern issues of Notes and Queries.
  2. Notes and Queries, Series 1, Volume 1, Nov 1849 - May 1850, via Internet Archive
  3. "Notes and Queries". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  4. GENUKI Yorkshire Notes and Queries. Archived 2012-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Jacqueline Simpson (Editor), Steve Roud (Editor) (2003). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press
  6. Peacock, Max. The Peacock Lincolnshire word books, 1884-1920, Barton on Humber: Scunthorpe Museum Society, 1997, p.8. ISBN 0-907098-04-5
  7. Elrington, C. R. (1988). "One hundred years of Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries". Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries. 32 (328): 689–694.
  8. American Notes and Queries, via Internet Archive
  9. "15 years of Notes & Queries". guardian.co.uk. 17 November 2004. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  10. Welch, Edward, ed. (2017). Captain Cuttle's Mailbag: History, Folklore, and Victorian Pedantry from the Pages of "Notes and Queries". Laboratory Books. pp. 15–16. ISBN 9781946053039.
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