shadow of britain

Chapter 703 The Publishing Empire of "The Brit"
Public opinion has a formidable power, but it is created by a group of ignorant, complacent fools. I know hundreds of journalists, most of whom have no personal opinion worth anything, but when they speak in the newspaper, it becomes the newspaper's opinion, and their words become thunderous prophecies that shake the society.

--Mark Twain

While most people in the editorial office of "The Limey" were still happily immersed in the gossip about Arthur's sudden "love", the protagonist of the incident, Sir Arthur Hastings himself, was not very interested in participating in it.

Two years of "exile" in Europe taught him a lot. The long-term absence from the center of power, the revengeful desire for being ignored by Whitehall, and the sense of loss after losing his official position were intertwined with each other, and eventually became a huge driving force that forced him to act.

However, due to his personality, Arthur did not forget to eat one bite at a time.

While it was important to break into Kensington Palace through the introduction of people like Mary Taglioni and Michael Faraday, it was also an action strategy that Arthur had been adhering to for a long time to achieve mutual benefit through his network of interpersonal relationships.

But after the Tower of London incident, Fleet Street attacked him. After the Caucasus incident, the British public opinion collectively reversed his personal evaluation. All of this made Arthur deeply realize the truth that "three people make a tiger, a lot of gossip can melt gold, and accumulated criticism can destroy a person. People's words are scary."

If we talk about the difference between the industrial age and the previous agricultural age that humans experienced, it is naturally the improvement in productivity.

It’s just that the word “productivity” is too vague. To be more specific, it is the improvement in work efficiency brought about by changes in production methods.

The most direct manifestation of the improvement in work efficiency is that the speed and breadth of information dissemination have reached unprecedented levels.

Readers in St. Petersburg could easily understand the changes in the British literary world a month ago. The London citizens who had never left England in their lives developed sympathy for the struggle of the Caucasian mountain people thousands of miles away. The ladies in New York were concerned about the seasonal wear recommendations of the Paris fashion circle across the Atlantic. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in South America, local Italian immigrants had just welcomed Giuseppe Garibaldi, the loser of the Genoa uprising and one of the leaders of Young Italy, with heroic treatment.

In such a crazy era, in such a world increasingly connected by newspapers, magazines and various advanced means of communication, The Brit, with a circulation of 80,000 copies per issue, is gradually becoming a force that cannot be ignored in British society.

If we also take into account The Economist and Nature magazines owned by The Brit magazine, and combine the current UK population of 2500 million, that means 1000 out of every 3.2 British people are long-term subscribers of The Brit.

If we take into account the spread of private libraries and pub storytellers that are prevalent in society, even a conservative estimate shows that the cultural penetration rate of "The Brit" magazine in British society should easily exceed 1%.

In terms of numbers, 55% is not an eye-catching number, but we must also consider that this is the result of The Brit when the overall literacy rate in Britain is %. In addition, since The Brit is a magazine based in London, their penetration rate in London society and the social influence achieved by London readers in the power center of Britain will only be more gorgeous than the overall paper data.

Moreover, if we look at this magazine from a historical perspective, which achieved great commercial success shortly after its founding, under the guidance of long-term liaison authors such as Dickens, Dumas, Disraeli, Andersen, Mrs. Shelley, Stendhal, Heine, and Tennyson, and with the background of the continuous improvement of literacy rate in British society, the current success of "The Limey" is just a starting point.

In addition, The Economist, which has utilitarian economists such as John Stuart Mill at its head, has an influence on the City of London that cannot be underestimated.

As for the natural philosophy journal Nature?
Although this journal has only been published for one year, don’t forget that it was born with the golden spoon of the "Göttingen European Electromagnetism Conference".

Nature's reviewers for Central Europe are Johann Gauss and Wilhelm Weber, its reviewers for Northern Europe are Jöns Berzelius and Hans Öster, and the review for Western Europe is done by Jean Arago and Simone-Denis Poisson.

What about the manuscript review in Britain and North America?

Sorry, that was naturally Michael Faraday, Charles Wheatstone and Sir Arthur Hastings.

But even though the Limey magazines were published in all fields, whether in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm, Petersburg or Moscow, Arthur Hastings was regarded as an outstanding publisher. He even successfully showed the special charm of Limey to North American readers and South American dolphins through the influence of Washington Irving and Elder Carter.

His commercial success in the British publishing industry has made old-line powerhouses such as The Times, Manchester Guardian, Blackwood's and Edinburgh Review fearful.

But for Arthur, such success was not enough.

This is no longer the case a few years ago when he was still penniless, patrolling the streets of Greenwich with a few shillings.

Although he was still far from becoming the "middle class with an annual income of 40,000 pounds" as described by Earl Daramore, financial success did not mean much to him.

Especially after witnessing the tremendous public pressure that Viscount Palmerston suffered because of the Caucasus incident this year, Arthur finally realized what is the most powerful weapon for British society that has undergone parliamentary reform.

Without mobilizing 200,000 ground forces or sending out the Mediterranean Fleet, just relying on a few quills on Fleet Street, the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was thrown into a dilemma and made to look ridiculous.

It is no wonder that Disraeli's "behind-the-scenes boss" Earl Lyndhurst was jealous and said some time ago: "In my opinion, Thomas Barnes, the editor-in-chief of The Times, is the most powerful person in Britain."

Viscount Palmerston had to admit with gritted teeth: "This 'Jupiter of the Times' has completely overshadowed the new Prime Minister!"

Of course, their evaluations may be exaggerated, but the fact that they can be evaluated so exaggerated speaks volumes.

As we all know, Sir Arthur Hastings may not listen to the orders of his superiors. He often pretends to obey but actually disobeys, and sometimes listens to orders but not to announcements. However, this does not prevent him from paying attention to a few sensitive words when reading official documents and newspapers, such as "most powerful". He likes power more than money and many ladies, but he doesn't like others to notice this.

Therefore, being prime minister or king was obviously not a good idea. He did not want to stand in the limelight and enjoy unlimited glory. After all, the lesson the Tower of London taught him was too profound. He did not want William Turner's painting "Rain, Policeman and the Tower of London - Arthur Hastings 1832" to appreciate so quickly.

As the saying goes, long illness makes a good doctor, and Sir Arthur, who practiced medicine without a license, proved from his own experience that controlling a hugely influential publishing company can be very beneficial to physical and mental health, especially in helping to alleviate heart disease.

With this idea in mind, it is not difficult to guess what suggestions Arthur will make at the board meeting.

"Reorganize the magazine into a publishing company?"

"And we're going to start a new magazine?"

"Ah? The new magazine is only 6p each? If we deduct taxes and printing costs, can we still guarantee a profit?"

"Arthur, don't blame me for not reminding you that we are already in deficit on Nature. But seeing that it is on the stable subscription list of the Royal Society and other national academies of sciences, I will regard it as a contribution to social progress. But you are probably crazy to start another cheap magazine."

Arthur leaned over the conference table, tapping the deficit report of Nature magazine under his fingertips.

He was not surprised at all that the establishment of the new parliament had attracted widespread opposition. After all, not every partner had the same idea as him. Since it was a business, the priority was naturally economic interests.

However, since Arthur dared to bring it up, he must have something to rely on.

What made Arthur so confident was a new machine that had just been designed not long ago.

Arthur pulled a copy of The Penny Journal of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge from his bag.

There is an illustration on the huge page: a steel giant is swallowing and spitting out snow-white paper rolls, and steam rises like a dragon's breath between the gears. On the left is a typemaker using a traditional printing press and a sweaty hand-cranked printer, and on the right is a worker using a new printing press in a suit and tie. He just touches the dashboard, and the pile of magazines behind him are already tied up and ready to be shipped.

Dear publishing pioneers!
While Fleet Street is still struggling with the printing limit of 30,000 copies per week, we are honored to announce to Britain and even the whole of Europe that the steam roller printing press has broken through the shackles of productivity!
A single machine can stably output 4000 sheets per hour, which is equivalent to twenty hand-cranked printing presses running day and night!
Ink utilization rate increased by 300%, and paper loss rate reduced to 1.5%, making every penny burst with the energy of a pound!
The patented movable type casting system increases typesetting speed by 8 times, and even Shakespeare's sonnets can be mass-produced during tea breaks!
"With this machine, the circulation of the Penny Magazine will exceed 100,000 in three months." Mr. Charles Knight of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge exclaimed: "It is not just a machine, but also a spreader of civilization!"

Order now and enjoy free maintenance and Royal Engineers accredited training for the first year!
Let us tear up the luxury labels on books and magazines, and use the power of steam and steel to turn every baker's breakfast table into a cultural salon of the Enlightenment!
Bradbury & Evans

27 Fleet Street, London | Only 850 per unit
"What the hell!"

Compared to guys like Dickens and Dumas who were not short of money, Disraeli was obviously more sensitive to the smell of money.

The first thing he thought of was the two new machines that The Times had ordered from the German printing machine giant Koenig & Bauer at the beginning of this year. Since being equipped with the new printing presses, The Times has not only increased its production capacity, but even reduced its production costs.

The printing press currently used by The Libery is still the old machine left over after Disraeli failed to found The Representative in 1824. Even though Disraeli bought a brand new product at the time, the printing speed of 1800 pages per hour was definitely the industry-leading level at the time.

But ten years later, even without considering technological iterations, the old equipment itself often has various problems, and the frequent uneven printing is the most unbearable problem.

Not only does the new product from Bradbury & Evans easily double the printing speed, it is also fully steam powered and comes with a one-year warranty…

Dickens, who had long disliked the old printing press, looked at the advertisement for a long time and finally sighed: "Good, it's really good. Expensive, it's really expensive. 850 pounds, six or seven kilograms of gold..."

Heine exclaimed in amazement, "Nearly 20,000 francs. In Paris, this amount of money is enough to buy four villas with small gardens."

Dumas interrupted and said, "It's enough to buy two single-family houses in London. I went to see them with a real estate agent two years ago. Most of the beautiful houses in the West End cost only about 500 pounds."

When Tennyson heard this number, he was horrified: "So much money, just thrown in all at once?"

Arthur saw that they were all shocked by the high figure, so he immediately used the words he had prepared long ago: "850 pounds seems high, but what about the reality?"

Arthur took out a pen and started writing on paper. "We all know that the mainstream of the current publishing market in London is three-volume novels. The standard price of a three-volume novel is 31 shillings and 6 pence. Most of us have lived through hard times, so we all understand that the number of people who can afford novels at this price is extremely limited. Many people borrow them from circulating libraries or buy them from second-hand bookstores. Because of this, many novels from one or two hundred years ago still have a very wide readership. This is also the reason why our independently published three-volume novels always cannot sell as well as the Brit magazine. Compared with the three-volume novels, the Brit, which costs 3 shillings, is really too cheap."

Upon hearing this, Dumas could not help but complain: "The three-volume novel is not only not as popular as The Englishman, can you believe it? My The Count of Monte Cristo is not even as popular as Elder's erotic novel. I think the fact that his book cannot be published has saved his sales. Although the underground printed books are crudely made and printed on very poor quality paper, readers obviously don't care because such books usually only sell for 6 shillings."

(End of this chapter)