EDITING AND EDITORIAL INTERVENTIONS IN ENGLISH JOURNALISM FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE RESTORATION

Abstract

This article builds on recent work on seventeenth-century journalism by arguing that newsbooks rapidly became an interactive medium. This emerges from recent studies of censorship and official monitoring of the press, in terms of interference by licensers, but it can be developed much further by demonstrating how different kinds of readers exerted control over what was printed. This was not only just a matter of commercial advertising, but also of book reviews and readers' letters, as well as of editors being ‘desired’, ‘instructed’ and ‘appointed’ to insert notices and news stories. This was done not only merely by members of the political elite, but also by readers from across the country and across the social spectrum, not least as part of political campaigning and lobbying. As such, new light is shed upon the processes involved in journalism, and upon the importance which contemporaries placed upon the news media.

Keywords:

• newsbooks
• editing
• audiences
• advertisements
• censorship
• political activism

Notes

1. British Library, Additional MS 78298, fo. 136.

2. This confusion over newsbooks is reflected in Early English Books Online, where titles such as Severall Proceedings and Mercurius Civicus are attributed to their publishers (Robert Ibbitson and Thomas Bates, respectively), while titles such as Politicus are attributed to an ‘editor’ or ‘journalist’, although to John Hall, rather than to Marchamont Nedham.

3. TNA, SP 46/95, fos. 281–2; Rugg 66–67.

4. Kingdomes Faithful and Impartial Scout, 19 (210.19), p. 146. Newsbooks are cited according to Nelson and Seccombe.

5. [Perfect] Occurrences, 127 (465.5127), p. 1051.

6. [Perfect] Diurnall, 304 (504.304), p. 2534; Occurrences, 129 (465.5129), p. 1128.

7. Occurrences, 3 (465.2003), sig. C2; Occurrences, 130 (465.5130), p. 1089.

8. Severall Proceedings, 239 (599.239), sig. 20X4v; Mercurius Politicus: A private conference between Scot & Needham (London, 1660), p. 3.

9. Diurnall, 140 (503.140), p. 2088; Diurnall, 174 (503.174), p. 2636; Diurnall, 219 (503.219), sig. 10L4v; Severall Proceedings, 279 (599.279), pp. 4416–18; Severall Proceedings, 225 (599.225), pp. 3554–55; Weekly Post, 13 (704.13), p. 109; [Mercurius] Politicus, 317 (361.317), p. 7091; 332 (361.332), p. 7331; 410 (361.410), p. 443; 411 (361.411), p. 458; 442 (361.442), p. 12–13.

10. Calendar of State Papers Domestic (hereafter CSPD) 1667–8, p. 466; CSPD 1671, p. 448.

11. Diurnall, 242 (504.242), p. 1946; Politicus, 365 (361.365), p. 7841; 391 (361.391), p. 124.

12. Politicus, 31 (361.031), p. 518; 57 (361.057), p. 916; 77 (361.077), p. 1236; 89 (361.089), p. 1424; 128 (361.128), p. 2024; 130 (361.130), p. 2056; 138 (361.138), p. 2208; 141 (361.141), p. 2260; 208 (361.208), p. 3540; 240 (361.240), p. 5066; 255 (361.255), p. 5308; 266 (361.266), p. 5484; 298 (361.298), p. 5996; 310 (361.310), p. 6976; 553 (361.553), p. 221; 554 (361.554), p. 237; Diurnall, 183 (504.183), p. 1470; Public Intelligencer, 17 (575.017), p. 280; 116 (575.116), p. 394.

13. Severall Proceedings, 231 (599.231), sig. 20F4v; Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer, 71 (214.071), pp. 568–70.

14. Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer, 120 (214.120), p. 966; [Mercurius] Civicus, 12 (298.012), p. 93; See also: Civicus, 23 (298.023) pp. 183–4; 70 (298.070), p. 661; 85 (298.085), pp. 777–8; 112 (298.112), p. 99; Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer, 70 (214.070), p. 566; 71 (214.071), pp. 568–70; True Informer, 24 (498.24), p. 192; Weekly Post, 13 (704.13), p. 109; Weekly Intelligencer, 29 (689.29), p. 230; 30 (29 Nov. to 6 Dec. 1659, 689.30), p. 237; Diurnall, 148 (504.148), p. 1189; Briefe Relation, 9 (27.09), p. 96.

15. Politicus, 391 (361.391), p. 124; Diurnall, 147 (503.147), p. 2200; Severall Proceedings, 155 (599.155), p. 2423.

16. Diurnall, 147 (503.147), p. 2200; Severall Proceedings, 231 (599.231), sig. 20F3v; Politicus, 306 (361.306), p. 6922; 317 (361.317), p. 7090; 381 (10–17 Sept. 1657), p. 1629; 391 (361.391), p. 124; 399 (361.399), p. 249; 441 (361.441), p. 160; 442 (361.442), p. 13.

17. Diurnall, 139 (503.139), p. 2077; 216 (503.216), p. 3296; 219 (503.219), sig. 10L4v; Severall Proceedings, 181 (599.181), p. 2852; Perfect Occurrences, 40 (465.5040), p. 277; Politicus, 411 (361.411), p. 459.

18. Politicus, 442 (361.442), p. 13.

19. Perfect Occurrences, 40 (465.5040), p. 277.

20. Severall Proceedings, 307 (599.307), p. 4874; Politicus, 303 (361.303), p. 6073; 304 (361.304), p. 6091; 440 (361.440), p. 145; 441 (361.441), p. 160.

21. Diurnall, 306 (504.306), p. 2561.

22. Politicus, 365 (361.365), p. 7840.

23. Severall Proceedings, 115 (599.115), p. 1788.

24. Modest Narrative, 22 (433.22), pp. 171–73; Moderate, 61 (413.2061), pp. 704–707.

25. Politicus, 68 (361.068), p. 1091–92; Guildhall Library, MS 7938, fos. 9–11v; Severall Proceedings, 105 (599.105), pp. 1615–20.

26. Politicus, 259 (361.259), p. 5367; 284 (361.284), pp. 5769–70; 294 (361.294), p. 5927; 306 (361.306), p. 692; 317 (361.317), p. 7091; Diurnall, 216 (503.216), pp. 3296–97; 219 (503.219), sig. 10L4v; 298 (504.298), p. 2425; Severall Proceedings, 240 (599.240), p. 3808.

27. Severall Proceedings, 291 (599.291), pp. 4617–19.

28. Civicus, 65 (298.065), p. 618. For the use of Politicus by members of the Woodmongers’ Company, to respond to accusations against them, see: Politicus, 380 (361.380), p. 1613.

29. Mercurius Publicus, 21 (378.121), p. 332.

30. Exact Account, 103 (491.103), pp. 1005–1006.

31. Parliamentary Intelligencer, 27 (486.127), p. 430.

32. Severall Proceedings, 216 (599.216), pp. 3417–18.

33. Perfect Occurrences, 51 (465.3051), sig. Ee4v.

34. Civicus, 96 (298.096), pp. 865–66; Hutchinson 68.

35. Diurnall, 240 (504.240), p. 1931.

36. Politicus, 290 (361.290), pp. 5864–65.

37. Guildhall Library, MS 7938, fo. 26v.

38. To all ingenuous people (Np, [1653]); Severall Proceedings, 185 (599.185), p. 2927.

39. Politicus, 332 (361.332), p. 7330.

40. Politicus, 284 (361.284), pp. 5769–70.

41. Diurnall, 319 (504.319), p. 2513; Occurrences, 116 (465.5116), p. 914; Dugdale 103.

42. Diurnall, 279 (503.279), p. 4288; Severall Proceedings, 115 (599.115), p. 1788; 217 (599.217), p. 3438; Civicus, 179 (298.179), p. 2427–28. For similar claims by editors in other contexts, see: Civicus, 139 (298.139), p. 1014.

43. Occurrences, 125 (465.5125), p. 1054; The Case of Thomas Bushell (Np, 1649).

44. Severall Proceedings, 139 (599.139), pp. 2177–78; 148 (599.148), pp. 2325–26; 214 (599.214), pp. 3380–83; 215 (599.215), pp. 3395–98; 243 (599.243), pp. 3853–55; 274 (599.274), p. 4338; Diurnall, 125 (503.125), pp. 1849–51; Occurrences, 125 (465.5125), p. 1054. See also: Diurnall, 118 (503.118), pp. 1727–30.

45. Diurnall, 143 (503.143), p. 2141; Severall Proceedings, 167 (599.167), p. 2628.

46. Diurnall, 228 (504.228), p. 1833.

47. Moderate Intelligencer, 197 (419.197), p. 9.

48. A Declaration from the Children of Light (London, 1655), p. 1; Perfect Proceedings, 290 (599.290), p. 4604.

49. British Library, Additional MS 78298, fo. 136; CSPD 1671, p. 448; CSPD 1667-8, p. 466; Calendar of Wynn (of Gwydir) Papers, 1515–1690 (London, 1926), p. 380; East Sussex Record Office, NOR/17/7.