The Gazetteer, 1735 - 1797: A Study in the Eighteenth-Century English Newspaper - Softcover

Haig, Robert L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809397048 ISBN 13: 9780809397044

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1973

Synopsis

In the early years of its existence the Gazetter was the most famous daily newspaper published in England?or the most infamous, depending upon the political sympathies of its individual reader. Founded in the sum­mer of 1735 as a propaganda organ of Sir Robert Wal­pole’s government, the paper was subsidized through regular purchases of its issues and by the payment in specie or political preferment of its contributors.

 

After Walpole’s fall from office the Gazetteer, de­prived of government support, sustained itself by adver­tising, for at mid-century advertising had become the chief economic factor influencing the success of a daily newspaper.

 

As a subsidized organ for a political faction, as an advertising venture, as a purveyor of commercial and political intelligence, and as a champion of the freedom of the English press the Gazetteer in large measure epitomizes the development of the English newspaper in the eighteenth century. Still another feature in this development?the emergence of the editor?is exempli­fied in the Gazetteer’s history. Under the editorship (1783?90) of the brilliant Scotsman James Perry the Gazetteer reached the height of its editorial power. But the system of management by which the Gazetteer had achieved success in the 1760’s was by now inadequate, and the paper fell into a decline that terminated in its consolidation with its more successful rival, the Morning Post, in 1797.

About this title

About the Author:

Professor Robert L. Haig is a member of the Depart­ment of English at the University of Illinois. He has contributed articles and reviews to various learned periodicals in England and America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1973
• ISBN 10: 0809397048
• ISBN 13: 9780809397044
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 360