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PREFACE.

UPON the completion of the First Volume of the ‘Penny Magazine,’ it may not be inexpedient to offer a few observations to the purchasers of this little work, whose sale has been justly regarded as one of the
most remarkable indications of the extent to which the desire for knowledge has reached in the United Kingdom.
It was considered by Edmund Burke, about forty years ago, that there were eighty thousand readers
in this country. In the present year it has been shown, by the sale of the ‘Penny Magazine,’ that there
/are two hundred thousand purchasers of one periodical work. It may be fairly calculated that the
J number of readers of that single work amounts to a million.
f If this incontestable evidence of the spread of the ability to read be most satisfactory, it is still more
J satisfactory to consider the species of reading which has had such an extensive and increasing popularity.
1 In this work there has never been a single sentence that could inflame a vicious appetite; and not a
paragraph that could minister to prejudices and superstitions which a few years since were common.
There have been no excitements for the lovers of the marvellous——no tattle or abuse for the gratification of a diseased taste for personality—and, above all, no party politics. The subjects which have uniformly been treated have been of the broadest and simplest character. Striking points of Natural History
—Accounts of the great Works of Art in Sculpture and Painting—Descriptions of such Antiquities as possess historical interest—Personal Narratives of Travellers—Biographies of Men who have had a permanent influence on the condition of the world—Elementary Principles of Language and Numbers— established facts in Statistics and Political Economy—these have supplied the materials for exciting the curiosity of a million of readers. This consideration furnishes the most convincing answer to the few (if any there now remain who assert that General Education is an evil. The people will not abuse the power they have acquired to read, and therefore to think. Let them be addressed in the spirit of sincerity and respect, and they will prove that they are fully entitled to the praise which Milton bestowed upon their forefathers, as “a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit,— acute to invent, subtle and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to.”
It must not, however, be forgotten that some of the unexampled success of this little work is to be ascribed to the liberal employment of illustrations, by means of Wood-cuts. At the commencement of the publication, before the large sale which it has reached could at all have been contemplated, the cuts were few in number, and partly selected from another work of the Society—the ‘Library of Entertaining Knowledge.’ Butjublic encouragement enabled the conductors to’ make greater exertions to give permanency to the success which the ‘Pcpy Magazine’ had attained,-, it became necessary to engage artists of eminence, both as draughtsman adwovd r1graver o gratify a proper curiosity, and cultivate an increasing taste, by giving representations of the finest Works of Art, of Monuments of Antiquity, and of subjects of Natural History, in a style that had been previously considered to belong only to expensive books. In the prosecution of this undertaking there have been great mechanical difficulties. The wood-cuts, as well as the text, are transferred to stereotype plates—and the impressions are rapidly printed from these plates by machinery. In this process there can of course be no delicate and careful adjustment, such as is found necessary in printing wood-cuts by the common press. The average number of the ‘ Penny Magazine,’ printed daily from two sets of stereotype plates, is sixteen thousand, on both sides ;—at the common printing press, one thousand impressions, on both sides, can
be obtained, even where particular care is not required. Seeing, therefore, that the speed with which the ‘Penny Magazine’ is printed, is sixteen times greater than in ordinary printing, some indulgence must be made for defects in the wood-cuts, as they appeared in a few of the early numbers. Those defects have been now almost entirely overcome, by the talent of the engravers, adapting their art to a new process.
It may not be uninteresting to mention two or three facts here, which may possibly be more systematically and fully pointed out hereafter, for the purpose of showing that such a work as the ‘Penny Magazine’ could not exist in its present state—and its present state is dependant upon its large sale— except in a country where civilization is carried forward to very high degrees of perfection. The vast number of the existing race of readers, to which we have already alluded, might be supposed sufficient
to warrant this assertion; but let us examine it a little more in detail.
The’Number of the ‘Penny Magazine’ which the reader is rrow perusing will be left ready to be printed off—to “go to press” as it is technically termed—on the 19th of December. Its previous preparation will have employed writers and artists, and that class of printers called compositors, for several weeks. The paper for 160,000 copies, (the quantity required for the consumption during the first month after publication,) consisting of 160 double reams (each sheet printing two copies), will have been previously delivered from the mill, and will have been charged with the excise duty of 3d. in the lb. upon 5,600 lbs.—. the tax upon that quantity amounting to 7O1. Up to this point a great deal of technical knowledge and mechanical skill will have been employed. Chemical knowledge and machinery are indispensable in the manufacture of the paper; and without the very ingenious invention of Stereotype Founding, in which great practical improvements have been made within a few years, the ‘Penny Magazine’ could not be printed in duplicate, which diminishes the expense, nor could the supply be proportioned to the demand. As we have already explained, the printing machine begins is work when every preparation is complete. In ten days one machine produces 160,000 copies froixi to sets of plates. If the printing, machine had not been invented it would have taken a single press, producing a thousand perfect copies each day, one hundred and sixty days, or more than five calendar months, to complete the same number. We see, therefore, that up to this point there are many conditions for the production of a Penny Magazine which could not exist except in a high state of civilization, where there were large accumulations of knowledge.
This Number of our periodical work, which thus goes to press on the 19th of December, will be sok1-’ in every part of the United Kingdom, generally on the 1st of January,—in remote districts, on the 3d or 4th at latest. No one who wishes for a copy of this Magazine, whether in England, Scotland, or Ireland, can have any difficulty in getting it, if he can find a bookseller. The communication between the capital and the country, and between large towns in the country and villages, is now so perfect, that wherever there is a sufficient demand of any commodity there will be a supply. But the ‘Penny Magazine’ is still a Penny Magazine all over the country. No one charges three-halfpence or two- pence for it. The wholesale dealer and the retailer derive their profit from the publisher; and the carriage is covered by that profit. But that could not be ii’ there were not cheap as well as ready communication through all parts of the United Kingdom. The steam-boat upon the seas—the canal-the railway—the quick van—these as well as the stage-coach and mail—place the ‘Penny Magazine’ within every one’s reach in the farthest part of the kingdom, ‘as certainly as if he lived in London, and without any additional cost. This is a striking illustration of the civilization of our country; and when unthinking people therefore ask, what is the benefit of steam-engines, and canals, and fine roads to the poor man, they may be answered by this example alone. In this, as in all other cases, ready and cheap communication breaks down the obstacles of time and space,—and thus, bringing all ends of a great kingdom as it were together, greatly reduces the inequalities of fortune and situation, by equalizing the price of commodities, and to that extent making them accessible to all.
Some people have foolishly said that the’ Penny Magazine’ is a monopoly. There were formerly a great many monopolies of literature in this country ;—that is, certain privileges were granted by the government to particular individuals, with the intent of diminishing the circulation of books by keeping up the price. Then the government was afraid that the people would learn to think. The object of those concerned in the ‘ Penny Magazine’ is, contrary to the spirit of a monopoly, to circulate as many copies as they can, as cheaply as they can. This Work has no exclusive privileges, and can have no exclusive privileges. It stands upon the commercial principle alone; and if its sale did not pay its expenses, with a profit to all concerned in it (except to the individual members of the Society who give it the benefit of their superintendence), it would  not stand at all. The Society has no funds to assist the ‘Penny Magazine;’ for its subscriptions are scarcely sufficient to defray the rent of the chambers in which it holds its meetings. But the’ Penny Magazine’ contributes materially to the funds of the Society, which funds are ready to be devoted to new undertakings, where success may not be so assured. The public, who buy the ‘Penny Magazine’ to the extent of two hundred thousand, are its only pecuniary supporters. It is the duty of those who receive this large encouragement to carry forward their work to as high a point of excellence as they may attain by liberal and judicious arrangements.
December 18th, 1832.