Revolutions from Grub Street. A history of magazine publishing in Britain

Notes:

Provides a scholarly overview of the consumer magazine industry from its 17th century origins into the digital age, charting revolutions in both technology and industrial organisation and the response to these changes. Contents include: 1] 'Creating the market for popular magazines - Grub Street origins / Towards the penny magazine / Making the penny dreadful / Developing a magazine business: Beeton and Cassell / W H Smith and railway distribution / Ned Hulton's gamble; 2] 'Pioneers of the new journalism revolution' - Feeding the popular demand / Growing a publishing portfolio / George Newnes launches Tit-Bits / Technological breakthroughs / Developments in America; / Alfred Harmsworth's 'Schemo Magnifico' / Magazines as big business; 3] 'From Mass Periodicals to Mass Production' - 'Letterpress giants' / Britain's printing unions / Lines of demarcation / Newsprint empires / Amalgamated Press / Harmsworth's rivals / Lord Northcliffe's legacy; 4] 'The Dominant Female' - Fleet Street's feminine side / Emergence of Odhams Press / Arrival of the Berry Brothers / Consolidating Newnes and Pearson / Hearst's National Magazine Co / Attracting the modern woman / The glamour of gravure; 5] 'Monopoly, power and politics' - Publishing on a war footing / Fears of a press monopoly / Magazines in austerity Britain / Takeovers and corporate consolidation / From duopoly to monopoly; 6] 'The ministry of magazines / The IPC behemoth / Social change and the sunday supplements / Changing leadership at IPC / The McKinsey reorganization / Reed International / A challenge from lithography / The IPL printing crisis / Innovation problems at the ministry / Increasing competition from monthlies / EMAP and other new competitors; 7] 'The competitive landscape transformed' - A decade of change / The divestment of IPC's printing operations / Ending the closed shop in printing / Computing innovations in magazine publishing / New competitors from Europe / EMAP's entrepreneurial strategy / Intensifying domestic competition / The market-led magazine / Advent of desktop publishing / Towards the digital age; 8] 'Global magazines and the digital age' - On the cusp of a revolution / The internet / Transforming distribution and retail / The BBC and DTP-driven growth / Lads' mags to the forefront / The global magazine / Envisioning a media neutral future / The Dot-Com Bust / Supermarkets and the control of distribution / Retrenchment and global licensing networks / Virtual magazines / The resilience of consumer magazines