Revolutions from Grub Street: A History of Magazine Publishing in Britain

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Howard Cox (Professor of International Business History, Professor of International Business History, University of Worcester) Simon Mowatt (Associate Professor of Management, Associate Professor of Management, AUT Business School)

Revolutions from Grub Street

A History of Magazine Publishing in Britain

Howard Cox (Professor of International Business History, Professor of International Business History, University of Worcester), Simon Mowatt (Associate Professor of Management, Associate Professor of Management, AUT Business School)

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English

Oxford University Press
20 March 2014

Press & journalism; Publishing industry

Revolutions from Grub Street charts the evolution of Britain's popular magazine industry from its seventeenth century origins through to the modern digital age. Following the reforms engendered by the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the Grub Street area of London, which later transmuted into the cluster of venerable publishing houses centred on Fleet Street, spawned a vibrant culture of commercial writers and small-scale printing houses. Exploiting the commercial potential offered by improvements to the system of letterpress printing, and allied to a growing demand for popular forms of reading matter, during the course of the eighteenth century one of Britain's pioneering cultural industries began to take meaningful shape. Publishers of penny weeklies and sixpenny monthlies sought to capitalise on the opportunities that magazines, combining lively text with appealing illustrations, offered for the turning of a profit. The technological revolutions of the nineteenth century facilitated the emergence of a host of small and medium-sized printer-publishers whose magazine titles found a willing and growing audience ranging from Britain's semi-literate working classes through to its fashion-conscious ladies. In 1881, the launch of George Newnes' highly innovative Tit-Bits magazine created a publishing sensation, ushering in the era of the modern, million-selling popular weekly. Newnes and his early collaborators Arthur Pearson and Alfred Harmsworth, went on to create a group of competing business enterprises that, during the twentieth century, emerged as colossal publishing houses employing thousands of mainly trade union-regulated workers. In the early 1960s these firms, together with Odhams Press, merged to create the basis of the modern magazine giant IPC. Practically a monopoly producer until the 1980s, IPC was convulsed thereafter by the dual revolutions of globalization and digitization, finding its magazines under commercial attack from all directions. Challenged first by EMAP, Natmags, and Condé Nast, by the 1990s IPC faced competition both from expanding European rivals, such as H. Bauer, and a variety of newly-formed agile domestic competitors who were able to successfully exploit the opportunities presented by desktop publishing and the world wide web. In a narrative spanning over 300 years, Revolutions from Grub Street draws together a wide range of new and existing sources to provide the first comprehensive business history of magazine-making in Britain.

By: Howard Cox (Professor of International Business History Professor of International Business History University of Worcester), Simon Mowatt (Associate Professor of Management, Associate Professor of Management, AUT Business School)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 157mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 456g
ISBN: 9780198755456
ISBN 10: 0198755457
Pages: 276
Publication Date: 20 March 2014
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Howard Cox is Professor of International Business History at the University of Worcester, UK, where he has taught since 2004, During an academic career spanning over thirty years he has published widely in the fields of business history, international business, and corporate strategy. His well received account of the international tobacco industry The Global Cigarette was also published by Oxford University Press in 2000. Simon Mowatt is Head of International Business at Auckland University of Technology Business School, New Zealand, where he is Associate Professor of Management and Leader of the Business and Labour History Group. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Business History, Henley Business School, UK, and held positions in Business Schools in the UK and Europe. Simon has published widely in the areas of business history, strategy, and innovation.

Reviews for Revolutions from Grub Street: A History of Magazine Publishing in Britain

`Extremely well-researched, well-written, and sobering account ... the book is excellent and will appeal to a wide audience ' Business History Review `Cox moves easily between epochs, cultures and countries, while the archival, often foreign, and other research on which the book rests is truly formidable ' Kenneth D. Brown, Contemporary British History `a nicely produced text and copious relevant illustrations. The result is not only an excellent example of high quality economic history but also an outstanding example of the historian's skill ' Kenneth Brown, Contemporary British History `Cox does not claim to be offering a standard company history. Rather, his stated intention is to use the history of BAT as an early illustration of the process of manufacturing internationalisation. This he achieves quite superbly. His control of a mass of detailed information is sure and the narrative never loses the reader's attention, even in the midst of the most intricate corporate negotiations. The writing is tight and always controlled ' Kenneth D. Brown, Contemporary British History `Howard Cox has provided a meticulously researched and definitive account of BAT's global development in marketing, distribution and manufacturing in the first half of the twentieth century ... the book will certainly be the authoritative history of the firm for years to come. Cox is to be praised for providing an excellent case study which will provide a benchmark for other historians of multinational enterprise ' Matthew Hilton, Business History, Vol.43, No.2, April 2001 `Howard Cox's lucid account of the history of British American Tobacco provides a valuable corporate history and some insight into the way in which the cigarette assumed global significance ' Rosemary Elliot, THES, Nov 17, 00. `Cox shows a sophisticated understanding of how political and economic circumstances across the world shaped events on the ground and the corporate vision. ' Rosemary Elliot, THES, Nov 17, 00. `The strength of Cox's book lies in its exposition of the growth of a ground-breaking, scientifically managed, multinational company and in his integration of the personal and the political at the corporate, national and international levels ' Rosemary Elliot, THES, Nov 17, 00. `a worthwhile addition to academic and research library collections ' A.P. O'Brien, CHOICE Dec. 2000. Vol.38, No.4. `Authoritative account... many interesting details... some splendid photographs. ' TLS, September 22 2000 `Howard Cox's trawl of BAT's archives and the trade press provides an authoritative account of this unusual and prosperous British multinational. He provides many interesting details . . . and reproduces some splendid photographs. . . . makes available archival material that will help researchers interested in such matters. There is thought-provoking information - presented in a fair but perhaps necessarily anodyne manner - on BAT's activities in the Indian adn Chinese markets ' TLS, September 22 2000 `Howard Cox's lucid account of the history of British American Tobacco provides a valuable corporate history and some insight into the way in which the cigarette assumed global significance. ... The story Cox tells is the quintessential story of the corporate American dream. ... Cox shows a sophisticated understanding of how political and economic circumstances across the world shaped events on the ground and the corporate vision. ... Cox keeps his reader abreast of relevant political developments while providing a coherent picture of the evolving management network. ... The strength of Cox's book lies in its exposition of the growth of a ground-breaking, scientifically managed, multinational company and in his integration of the personal and the political at the corporate, national and international levels ' Rosemary Elliot, THES `It is researched in great detail and well illustrated; the photos of the Indian and Chinese markets are fascinating ' Social History of Medicine `Of particular interest is the book's detailed study of the role of BAT in the Indian and Chinese markets in the early part of the twentieth century ' Social History of Medicine `Extremely well-researched, well-written, and sobering account ... the book is excellent and will appeal to a wide audience ' Business History Review `'Authoritative account... many interesting details... some splendid photographs ' Times Literary Supplement