A. Periodicals in initial stage
B. The function of periodicals
C. Newspapers and other periodicals online
D. The introduction of reviews
E. Features of periodicals
F. The emergence of modern periodicals
Periodicals refer to publications released on a regular basis that may include news, feature articles, poems, fictional stories, or other types of writing. Many periodicals also include photographs and drawings. Periodicals that are aimed at a general audience, such as weekly news roundups or monthly special-interest publications, are also called magazines. Those with a more narrow audience, such as publications of scholarly organizations, can be termed journals. While newspapers are periodicals, the term generally has come to refer to publications other than dailies.
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Historically, must periodicals have differed from newspapers in their format, publication schedule, and content. Most newspapers deal with the news of the day and are issued on pulp paper with relatively large, unbound pages. By contrast, other types of periodicals focus on more specialized material, and when they deal with news they tend to do so in the form of summaries or commentaries. For centuries these periodicals generally have been printed on finer paper than newspapers, with smaller bound pages, and issued at intervals longer than a day (weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly, or even annually) .
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In the 1990s, with the growth of the Internet, publishers began to release newspapers and other periodicals online. This development blurred the line between the two forms because the general format and design of online newspapers and periodicals are similar, and the publication schedules of both forms became more flexible. For example, many newspaper publishers update their online versions throughout the day, and some online periodicals do the same. Despite these technological changes, the two forms differing emphasis in choice of content remains a distinguishing factor.
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The earliest periodicals include the German Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (Edifying Monthly Discussions, 1663-1668 ), the French Journal des Scavans (1665; subsequently titled Journal des Savants), and the English Philosophical Transactions (1665) of the Royal Society of London. These were essentially collections of summaries (later essays) on developments in art, literature, philosophy, and science.
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The first periodical of the modern general type, devoted to a miscellany of reading entertainment, was the English publication The Gentleman's Magazine (1731—1907)-the first instance of the use of the word magazine to denote a forum for entertaining reading. It contained reports of political debates, essays, stories, and poems and was widely influential. It served as the model for the first true American periodicals, General Magazine and Historical Chronicle and American Magazine. Both of these periodicals first appeared in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January 1741 as rival publications; neither lasted more than a few months, however. The former was founded by the American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin and the latter by the American printer Andrew Bradford.
Monthly or quarterly reviews, usually partisan in politics, and with articles contributed by eminent authors and politicians, were introduced in Britain early in the 19th century. Of these, two became outstanding. The Edinburgh Review (1802-1929), founded in support of the Whig Party, was one of the most influential critical journals of its day and numbered among its contributors-the English writers Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, and William Hazlitt. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1817-1981), a Tory publication, was early in its career noted for its serialization of Scottish fiction and its satirical commentaries on Scottish affairs.
One of the most important serious periodicals in the United States in the 19th century was the North American Review (1815-1940; revived in 1964). Editors during its kong and illustrious career included such literary figures as James Russell Lowell, Charles Eliot Norton, and Henry Adams; contributors included Henry James, H. G. Wells, and Mark Twain. Among the European equivalents of such periodicals were the French Revue des Deux Mondes and the German Literarisches Wochenblatt.