The Caxtonian Quarterly
Subtitle: “For Printers, Stationers, and Kindred Traders in the United Kingdom”
Alternate Subtitle(s)
- “A Journal for all Connected with the Printing, Lithographic, Stationery, and Process Trades” (journal itself)
- “A journal for master printers and kindred traders” (COPAC)
Related Journals
Start Date(s)
- 1898 (journal itself)
- 1908 (Stewart)
End Date(s)
- 1909 (Shattock)
- 1904 (St. Bride (online))
Editor(s)
City
- London, England (journal itself)
Circulation Count
- 6,000 in 1899 (Waterloo (online))
Type of Content
- “Contains carefully-written articles, with a concise synopsis of current trade news, advertisements” (“To Manufacturers,” vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 4-5)
Notes
- Subtitle varies. No. 3 (May 1909) is “a journal for all connected with the printing, lithographic, stationery, and process trades” (journal itself)
- “At a time when there are admittedly too many Printing and Stationery Trade Journals in existence in this county, it may seem to be uncalled for to start another. If the new journal were to be of the same description of issued on the same lines as the present ones, it wold unquestionably be superfluous. The Caxtonian Quarterly, however, will be so conducted as to supply a distinct and constantly-acknowledged want. Experienced Advertisers are aware that it is of the greatest importance to secure continuous and unbroken publicity in any organ selected. Occasional and spasmodic advertising has not, it has been demonstrated, the effect of a constant and periodically reiterated announcement. The existing papers are published at an interval of a week, a month, or two months; hence to secure a permanent place in them becomes a matter of considerable expense. It has, therefore, been determined to issue this journal quarterly, on the 15th February, May, August, and November of each year. Advertisers who secure positions in it will have their announcements constantly before the entire body of the Printing and Stationery Trades in the United Kingdom for one-third the cost of a monthly” (Thomas Baker, “To Manufacturers” 4)
- “Our title . . . sufficiently indicates the place we intend to occupy, and our dates of publication have been purposely arranged so that advertisers in our columns may always catch the trade of the buying season immediately following the issue of every number. . . . As to literary contents, [it] . . . is, first and foremost, A MEDIUM FOR MANUFACTURES AND BUYERS; their interests will always be paramount to other considerations, and what we print will invariably be calculated to be serviceable as well as interesting to them" (“We Make Our Bow,” vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 7-8)
- “Advertisers are tired of paying out large sums every month for uncertified circulations-it may be a hundred, or it may be a thousand, or more, but the patient advertiser has no means of knowing what it is or whether he is getting value for his money. With The Caxtonian Quarterly it will not be so. [8] Our circulation will be guaranteed by the Post Office receipt for postage, and a representative of one of our advertisers will be deputed to attend at the Post Office and witness the actual number posted of every issue, and the money paid, and give a certificate to that effect, which certificate, together with the Post Office receipt, will be printed on the index page of the following number. By this arrangement every advertiser is afforded an opportunity of personally testing our circulation and satisfying himself of its bona fide character. We shall begin with an edition of six thousand (6,000) for circulation in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Channel Islands. The yearly subscription will be eighteen-pence, post free, sent flat” (“We Make our Bow,” vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 7-8)
- “The Literary part of [The Caxtonian Quarterly] . . . will be conducted by a gentleman of very wide experience in this class of journalism. The contents will consist of carefully-written articles, with a concise synopsis of current trade news. The permanent value of the work as a quarterly book of references sure to attract the attention of many members of the trade who will become permanent subscribers. . . . All advertisements will be placed opposite or immediately under reading matter; they will thus be seen without being sought for, and will ensure every one a prominent position” (“To Manufacturers,” vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 4-5)
- The Caxtonian Quarterly “keeps up regular communications . . . between the manufacturers at home and distributors abroad, all the year round, and over the most extensive and most easily covered business field in the world, helping to remove the complaint that British manufacturers and merchants do not keep sufficiently in touch with their natural customers everywhere” (vol. 1, no. 5, p. 6)
- “With the New Year we hope to increase the scope of the CAXTONIAN QUARTERLY by the incorporation of the COLONIST AND EXPORTER, and altering the months of publication from February, May, August and November, to January, April, July and October. This course has been adopted in the interests of our readers, who will thus have a better opportunity of knowing what is taking place all over our Empire in connection with printing and kindred trades. . . . The circulation of the incorporated Journals will now be 8000 copies, distributed over Great Britain, India, and the Colonies” (“1900--Our Intentions for the New Year,” vol. 7, p. 1)
- Editor's and printer's address: 74-76 Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields (journal itself)
Subject Categories
Sources that Discuss this Journal
- COPAC
- NSTC
- Shattock p. 53
- St. Bride (online)
- Stewart vol. 1, p. 518
- Willing’s 1906, vol. 33, p. 35
Works Cited
- COPAC: Consortium of Online Public Access Catalogues. Library Hub Discover, JISC.
- NSTC (Nineteenth-Century Short Title Catalogue), in C19: The Nineteenth-Century Index, Chadwyck-Heaney, 2020. ProQuest.
- Shattock, Joanne. The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Vol. 4: 1800-1900. Edited by Frederick W. Bateson. 3rd ed. Cambridge UP. 1999.
- St. Bride Foundation Catalogue, St. Bride Library, 2022.
- Stewart, James D., editor. British Union-Catalogue of Periodicals. 4 vols. Butterworths, 1968.
- Willing’s (Late May’s) British and Irish Press Guide, and Advertiser’s Directory and Handbook. Willing’s Press Service. HathiTrust.
