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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 26,209 title entries, 6,287 author entries, and 823 publisher entries between the years 1837 and 1901. In addition, the database contains 3,615 serialized titles (13.8% of all titles) from 312 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 43.7% and 77.1% complete.

Authorship

Gender of Authors
  • Women: 2,669 authors
  • Men: 2,987 authors
  • Unknown: 702 authors
Titles per Author by Gender
  • Women wrote 13,036 titles (4.9 per author)
  • Men wrote 11,270 titles (3.8 per author)
  • Unknown wrote 1,903 titles (2.7 per author)
Most Prolific Authors

Note: only counts titles published in period.

  1. Emma Marshall, 154 titles.
  2. Evelyn Ward Everett Green, 143 titles.
  3. William Henry Giles Kingston, 129 titles.
  4. George Manville Fenn, 125 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, 82 titles.
  10. Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard, 81 titles.
  11. R. M. Ballantyne, 75 titles.
  12. Henrietta Keddie, 75 titles.
  13. Annie S. Swan, 74 titles.
  14. Mary Louisa Molesworth, 74 titles.
  15. Charlotte Maria Tucker, 73 titles.
  16. Agnes Giberne, 71 titles.
  17. Florence Marryat, 68 titles.
  18. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, 66 titles.
  19. Annie Thomas, 66 titles.
  20. William Clark Russell, 66 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. Frederick William Robinson, 26 titles.
  17. Jules Verne, 26 titles.
  18. Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock, 26 titles.
  19. Wilkie Collins, 26 titles.
  20. William Clark Russell, 26 titles.

Publishing

Publishing Formats
  • One-volume titles: 18,848 titles (71.9% total titles)
  • Two-volume titles: 2,173 titles (8.3% total titles)
  • Three-volume titles: 5,169 titles (19.7% total titles)
  • Four-volume titles: 19 titles (0.1% total titles)
Most Prolific Publishers

Note: only counts titles published in period.

  1. Hurst and Blackett, 1,149 titles.
  2. Bentley, 1,142 titles.
  3. S. P. C. K., 845 titles.
  4. R. T. S., 840 titles.
  5. Sampson Low, 728 titles.
  6. Routledge, 701 titles.
  7. Chapman and Hall, 688 titles.
  8. F. V. White, 622 titles.
  9. Chatto and Windus, 621 titles.
  10. Tinsley Brothers, 617 titles.
  11. Ward and Lock, 549 titles.
  12. T. C. Newby, 530 titles.
  13. Smith, Elder, 524 titles.
  14. Macmillan, 482 titles.
  15. James Nisbet, 425 titles.
  16. Nelson and Sons, 425 titles.
  17. Blackie, 391 titles.
  18. Cassell, 376 titles.
  19. Griffith and Farran, 363 titles.
  20. Frederick Warne, 351 titles.
Most Prolific Fiction-Carrying Periodicals

Note: counts novels only, not short stories.

  1. Family Herald, 161 serialized titles.
  2. Manchester Weekly Times, 138 serialized titles.
  3. Temple Bar, 101 serialized titles.
  4. Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 84 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.