The Reader (weekly)

The Reader was a British weekly published from 1863 to 1867. Intended as a review journal, for both science and literature, it has been called "probably the last attempt, in Victorian England, to keep together liberal scientists, theologians, and men of letters."[1][2]

History

The Reader was set up in 1862 by Thomas Hughes and Norman Lockyer, neighbours in Wimbledon, to cover art, religion and science. The first issue appeared on 3 January 1863.[3] The original backers were Christian Socialists. Some of those were bought out, in 1864, by associates of the X Club. The alliance of the groups was uneasy.[4] The Reader was sold in autumn 1865 to Thomas Bendyshe.[5] There were 211 weekly numbers, and the final issue appeared on 12 January 1867.[6]

Editorial staff

The first editor was John Malcolm Ludlow, who was succeeded by David Masson.[4][7] In aiming to review books of all sorts, The Reader resembled in its approach the models Monthly Review and Critical Review of the 18th century.[6] They were followed by J. Dennis, and Thomas Bendyshe.[8]

The editors of the science section were Thomas Henry Huxley and John Tyndall.[8] Lockyer initially had had that job. With Herbert Spencer, he tried to turn around The Reader in 1864 by expanding its science content. But the December 1864 editorial "Science and Church Policy" by Huxley damaged circulation, by offending Christian Socialists.[9] There came to be flexibility of roles, with Frederick Pollock (1815–1888) taking on some responsibility in mid-1865.[10]

Contributors

In April 1863 a list of 51 contributors was published.[11]

Legacy

While the scientific content of The Reader ended with Bendyshe's ownership, the scientific group supplying it was the milieu for the founding of Nature in 1869.[15] As far as Bendyshe's interests in human diversity went, James Hunt set up as successor the Popular Magazine of Anthropology in early 1866.[5]

Notes
  1. Darwin, Charles; Burkhardt, Frederick (1999). The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. Cambridge University Press. p. 688. ISBN 978-0-521-59033-4.
  2. Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James R. (1992). Darwin. Penguin Books Limited. p. 527. ISBN 978-0-14-013192-5.
  3. Baldwin, Melinda (2015). Making "Nature": The History of a Scientific Journal. University of Chicago Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-226-26145-4.
  4. Barton, Ruth (2018). The X Club: Power and Authority in Victorian Science. University of Chicago Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-226-55161-6.
  5. Cantor, Geoffrey; Shuttleworth, Sally (2004). Science Serialized: Representations of the Sciences in Nineteenth-Century Periodicals. MIT Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-262-26218-7.
  6. John F. Byrne, "The Reader": A Review of Literature, Science and the Arts, 1863-67, Victorian Periodicals Newsletter No. 4, [Vol. 2, No. 1] (Apr., 1969), pp. 47–50, at p. 48. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals JSTOR 20084799
  7. Mack, Edward Clarence; Armytage, W. H. G.; Armytage, Walter H. (1952). Thomas Hughes: The Life of the Author of Tom Brown's Schooldays. Benn. p. 125.
  8. Lewes, George Henry; Baker, William (1995). The letters of George Henry Lewes. University of Victoria, English Literary Studies. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-920604-82-3.
  9. Ruth Barton, "Huxley, Lubbock, and Half a Dozen Others": Professionals and Gentlemen in the Formation of the X Club, 1851-1864, Isis Vol. 89, No. 3 (Sep., 1998), pp. 410–444, at pp. 439–40. Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society. JSTOR 237141
  10. Jackson, Roland (2018). The Ascent of John Tyndall: Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual. Oxford University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-19-878895-9.
  11. Low, Sampson (1863). The Publishers Circular. editor, Mr. Sampson Low. p. 171.
  12. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Roberts, George Edward" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 48. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  13. Shermer, Michael (2002). In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Biographical Study on the Psychology of History. Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-19-803381-3.
  14. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1900). "Wise, John Richard de Capel" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 62. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  15. Desmond, Adrian. "Huxley, Thomas Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14320. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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