The Scope of this Series

      Here is the second series of a five-series set comprising the Waterloo Directory of English Periodicals and Newspapers, 1800-1900. This series lists 50,000 titles, of which over 20,000 are `family members' through a merger with or restructuring of some other publication. By the completion of the five-series set, some 125,000 titles are expected to be identified, located and described. All subject areas are covered, although each one of the series attempts to provide a comprehensive listing of from seven to ten additional subjects, while including many thousands of titles not on those specialty lists.

      The subjects dealt with most completely herein are:

Art & Architecture

Children

Feminism

Music

Theatre

Wit & Humour

Women

      Of these publications, the editor has located about 80%, and read some half dozen issues of each. The remaining entries represent newspapers and periodicals in miscellaneous other subjects, including newspapers, annuals, and other generalist publications, so that some 8,000 titles have been read in total.

      The catalogues of the following libraries have been worked through in great detail: the University of London, the British Library in its main Euston Road branch, its Colindale Newspaper Branch and its Yorkshire Boston Spa Documents Lending Branch, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Wellcome medical library (London), the Royal Society Library.  All the pertinent titles in the British Library's NEWSPLAN are here, tho in considerably more detail: readers are directed to NEWSPLAN for holdings information whenever a title herein also appears there.

      One of the richest sources of information on contributors has been the pages of the Dictionary of National Biography and of Modern English Biography.  Some years ago Professor William Scheuerle of the University of Florida  completed a reading of these more than 40 volumes to glean all references to  individuals associated with Victorian periodicals. He kindly agreed to pass to this project those tens of thousands of names.  This Directory and its readers owe much to Professor Scheuerle's labour and generosity.  

      Many of the entries or 'records' herein are for titles which have not been 'shelf-checked'. Hence this information is unreliable, having been gleaned from a great variety of sources, many not intended to serve the bibliographer. It is included for the convenience of readers, who might find this very limited material better than nothing in a field where so much is yet to be accomplished. As this project moves forward such limitations ought to diminish.

      For the purposes of this project a periodical is defined to be any publication which at its inception was intended to be published at regular intervals for an indefinite period of time, at least annually and as often as once or more times daily. In general this definition excludes serial publications such as multi-part novels and election puff-sheets. It also excludes most government publications and trade or company reports, but includes transportation schedules, almanacs and town directories.

      Also included are titles in any language, published during any part of their life-span in England between January 1, 1800 and December 31, 1900. So a periodical might appear in this list even if most of its issues were published before 1800 or after 1900, or if most issues were published in some other country.

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