Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Publication Title

Publishing History: The Social, Economic and Literary History of Book, Newspaper and Magazine Publishing

Volume

65

Pages

41-69

Abstract

John Cleave's Weekly Police Gazette (1834-36) [hereafter cited as WPG] was by most accounts the best-selling unstamped newspaper of the so-called 'War of the Unstamped Press' in the 1830s, one of the first unstamped papers to adopt a broadsheet format similar to those of the stamped newspapers, and one of the first to mix political news with coverage of non-political events, such as sensational crimes and strange occurrences.2 Perhaps because WPG's circulation reached around 40,000-well beyond that of most other newspapers of the 1830s, whether stamped or unstamped - it was also the most frequently prosecuted of the unstamped publications, with Cleave being tried and convicted because of the WPG on at least six separate occasions during its two-year run.3 By contrast, during the same period, there were only four legal actions against Henry Hetherington, the next most often prosecuted of the unstamped publishers, and only two distinct prosecutions.4

Comments

© 2009 ProQuest LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Included with the kind written permission of the publisher.

Original Publication Citation

Jacobs, E. (2009). The pursuit of an unstamped newspaper: Interactions between prosecution and the evolving form, politics, and business practices of John Cleave’s Weekly Police Gazette (1834-36). Publishing History: The Social, Economic and Literary History of Book, Newspaper and Magazine Publishing, 65, 41-69.

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