The Victorian Book

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”—Oscar Wilde

The Victorian Book: From the Gutter to the Stars

The 19th century is often referred to as “the second print revolution,” and during this time period nearly every aspect of the printing process was transformed and mechanized. Though printing still involved the impression of metal onto paper, everything about the way in which this was accomplished became faster and cheaper, responding to the demands of a newly literate population for news, information, and, of course, stories.

Every part of the process of making books changed during the 19th century: printing, papermaking, typecasting, typesetting, publishing , bookselling, copyright, and much more. The first newspaper printed by steam press in Britain was The Times issue of November 29, 1814. This allowed for 1,100 sheets to be printed per hour, compared to about 300 per hour on a hand press. By 1848, rotary presses could print up to 20,000 impressions per hour. Papermaking became mechanized, and wood pulp was introduced as a cheap substitute for cotton and linen rags in 1843. While the introduction of wood pulp paper did more than perhaps any other factor to make cheap books possible, it also means that 19th-century books are now far more fragile than their earlier counterparts—with their acidic pulp paper yellowing, flaking, and crumbling. Printing with stereotype plates also came into widespread use in the 19th century, allowing for cheap and quick reprints of popular material. 

Along with advances in technology, social factors also contributed to the second print revolution. Literacy and education rose in Britain throughout the 19th century, though public education was not compulsory until 1871. Railway travel provided more time and opportunity to read, as well as spaces in railway stations to sell books. Circulating libraries such as Mudie’s Lending Library made books available to a wide range of readers, while experimentation with printing in parts, weekly and monthly illustrated literary magazines, and cheap publications such as penny dreadfuls, broadsides, and chapbooks made information and stories available to more people than ever. The Victorian period saw the rise of tabloids, yellow journalism, disposable escapism, and junk mail. Servants and their employers borrowed books from the same libraries, book piracy was rampant, and authors became national celebrities. The sheer weight of print being produced was overwhelming; in short, the desire to read has perhaps never been stronger.

This exhibition focuses on the books themselves, highlighting the proliferation of new formats and new ways of reading. Many Victorian books seem ugly to modern eyes; brown publisher’s cloth, stereotype printing, and crumbling pulp paper seem like a step down from the finest bespoke productions of the hand press period. But what makes the Victorian book so fascinating is not only the wide range of formats and dizzying array of contents they hold but also the efforts to make cheap books that were also attractive.  Developments throughout the century in illustrative techniques, color printing, and new forms of binding produced many spectacularly beautiful and interesting books.

Much like our own early 21st century American culture, Victorian Britain was a society of haves and have-nots, and the printing of the era reflects those disparities. But even those on the margins of mainstream culture and in the gutters of poverty dream of beauty and long for the stars. In this exhibition, we hope you will find beauty in the humblest of books and inspiration in the powerful impulses that Victorian readers  across the spectrum of society found in the printed word: to learn, to change, to escape, and to dream.