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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 26,605 title entries, 6,461 author entries, and 836 publisher entries between the years 1837 and 1901. In addition, the database contains 3,617 serialized titles (13.6% of all titles) from 313 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 44.3% and 78.3% complete.

Authorship

Gender of Authors
  • Unknown: 1 authors
  • Women: 2,735 authors
  • Men: 3,053 authors
  • Unknown: 743 authors
Titles per Author by Gender
  • wrote 4 titles (4.0 per author)
  • Women wrote 13,216 titles (4.9 per author)
  • Men wrote 11,424 titles (3.8 per author)
  • Unknown wrote 1,961 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, 136 titles.
  4. George Manville Fenn, 125 titles.
  5. Emma Leslie, 110 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. Charlotte Maria Tucker, 75 titles.
  12. Henrietta Keddie, 75 titles.
  13. R. M. Ballantyne, 75 titles.
  14. Mary Louisa Molesworth, 74 titles.
  15. Annie S. Swan, 74 titles.
  16. Agnes Giberne, 71 titles.
  17. Florence Marryat, 68 titles.
  18. William Clark Russell, 66 titles.
  19. Annie Thomas, 66 titles.
  20. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, 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. George MacDonald, 30 titles.
  13. Adeline Sergeant, 30 titles.
  14. William Edward Norris, 27 titles.
  15. Dora Russell, 27 titles.
  16. William Clark Russell, 26 titles.
  17. Frederick William Robinson, 26 titles.
  18. Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock, 26 titles.
  19. Wilkie Collins, 26 titles.
  20. Jules Verne, 26 titles.

Publishing

Publishing Formats
  • One-volume titles: 19,242 titles (72.3% total titles)
  • Two-volume titles: 2,175 titles (8.2% total titles)
  • Three-volume titles: 5,169 titles (19.4% 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, 1,151 titles.
  2. Bentley, 1,144 titles.
  3. R. T. S., 873 titles.
  4. S. P. C. K., 864 titles.
  5. Sampson Low, 740 titles.
  6. Routledge, 715 titles.
  7. Chapman and Hall, 693 titles.
  8. Chatto and Windus, 628 titles.
  9. F. V. White, 622 titles.
  10. Tinsley Brothers, 617 titles.
  11. Ward and Lock, 560 titles.
  12. T. C. Newby, 530 titles.
  13. Smith, Elder, 524 titles.
  14. Macmillan, 483 titles.
  15. Nelson and Sons, 434 titles.
  16. James Nisbet, 426 titles.
  17. Blackie, 398 titles.
  18. Cassell, 389 titles.
  19. Griffith and Farran, 374 titles.
  20. Frederick Warne, 359 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.