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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Analysis: General Statistics

Coverage

Currently, the database contains 25,024 title entries, 5,903 author entries, and 774 publisher entries between the years 1837 and 1901. In addition, the database contains 3,587 serialized titles (14.3% of all titles) from 303 periodicals. Data visualizations of authorship and publishing data can be found on the Data Visualizations page.

Progress

No one knows how many works of fiction the Victorians wrote and published. Several estimates exist however. A statistical estimate by Riddell and Betancourt (2021) give an upper maximum of 34,000 published fiction titles. Using the annual reports from the Publishers' Circular, Sutherland (1989) posits "somewhere around 60,000 works of adult and juvenile fiction published" during the period. Based on these estimates, ATCL is somewhere between 41.7% and 73.6% complete.

Authorship

Gender of Authors
  • Women: 2,466 authors
  • Men: 2,779 authors
  • Unknown: 733 authors
Titles per Author by Gender
  • Women wrote 12,354 titles (5.1 per author)
  • Men wrote 10,751 titles (3.9 per author)
  • Unknown wrote 1,919 titles (2.7 per author)
Most Prolific Authors
  1. Emma Marshall, 154 titles.
  2. Evelyn Ward Everett Green, 139 titles.
  3. William Henry Giles Kingston, 129 titles.
  4. George Manville Fenn, 117 titles.
  5. Emma Leslie, 108 titles.
  6. Margaret Oliphant, 100 titles.
  7. George Alfred Henty, 94 titles.
  8. Elizabeth Thomasina Meade, 87 titles.
  9. Charlotte Mary Yonge, 81 titles.
  10. Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard, 81 titles.
  11. R. M. Ballantyne, 75 titles.
  12. Henrietta Keddie, 75 titles.
  13. Mary Louisa Molesworth, 74 titles.
  14. Annie S. Swan, 74 titles.
  15. Charlotte Maria Tucker, 71 titles.
  16. Florence Marryat, 68 titles.
  17. William Clark Russell, 66 titles.
  18. Annie Thomas, 66 titles.
  19. William Gordon Stables, 65 titles.
  20. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, 64 titles.
Most Prolific Serial Authors

Note: counts distinct titles, both novels and short story collections.

  1. Margaret Oliphant, 62 titles.
  2. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, 60 titles.
  3. James Payn, 48 titles.
  4. James Malcolm Rymer, 45 titles.
  5. Walter Besant, 43 titles.
  6. Anthony Trollope, 42 titles.
  7. William Harrison Ainsworth, 39 titles.
  8. Annie S. Swan, 36 titles.
  9. Charlotte M. Brame, 34 titles.
  10. George Manville Fenn, 33 titles.
  11. Ellen Wood, 31 titles.
  12. Adeline Sergeant, 30 titles.
  13. George MacDonald, 30 titles.
  14. William Edward Norris, 27 titles.
  15. Dora Russell, 27 titles.
  16. Wilkie Collins, 26 titles.
  17. Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock, 26 titles.
  18. Jules Verne, 26 titles.
  19. William Clark Russell, 26 titles.
  20. Frederick William Robinson, 26 titles.

Publishing

Publishing Formats
  • One-volume titles: 17,676 titles (70.6% total titles)
  • Two-volume titles: 2,160 titles (8.6% total titles)
  • Three-volume titles: 5,169 titles (20.7% total titles)
  • Four-volume titles: 19 titles (0.1% total titles)
Most Prolific Publishers
  1. Hurst and Blackett, 1,149 titles.
  2. Bentley, 1,140 titles.
  3. S. P. C. K., 789 titles.
  4. R. T. S., 740 titles.
  5. Sampson Low, 709 titles.
  6. Chapman and Hall, 683 titles.
  7. Routledge, 665 titles.
  8. F. V. White, 617 titles.
  9. Chatto and Windus, 613 titles.
  10. Tinsley Brothers, 613 titles.
  11. Ward and Lock, 531 titles.
  12. T. C. Newby, 526 titles.
  13. Smith, Elder, 523 titles.
  14. Macmillan, 477 titles.
  15. James Nisbet, 404 titles.
  16. Nelson and Sons, 386 titles.
  17. Blackie, 349 titles.
  18. Hutchinson, 347 titles.
  19. Cassell, 344 titles.
  20. Griffith and Farran, 329 titles.
Most Prolific Fiction-Carrying Periodicals

Note: counts novels only, not short stories.

  1. The Family Herald, 161 serialized titles.
  2. Manchester Weekly Times, 138 serialized titles.
  3. Temple Bar, 101 serialized titles.
  4. Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 83 serialized titles.
  5. All the Year Round, 80 serialized titles.
  6. The Cardiff Times, 78 serialized titles.
  7. Good Words, 76 serialized titles.
  8. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 74 serialized titles.
  9. Cornhill Magazine, 73 serialized titles.
  10. People's Friend, 73 serialized titles.
  11. The Lancashire Evening Post, 72 serialized titles.
  12. Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, 70 serialized titles.
  13. Boy's Own Paper, 67 serialized titles.
  14. The Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 66 serialized titles.
  15. Leisure Hour, 59 serialized titles.
  16. Macmillan's Magazine, 56 serialized titles.
  17. Belgravia, 55 serialized titles.
  18. Sunday Magazine for Family Reading, 55 serialized titles.
  19. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 54 serialized titles.
  20. Sheffield Independent, 53 serialized titles.