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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 24,788 title entries, 5,847 author entries, and 762 publisher entries between the years 1837 and 1901. In addition, the database contains 3,584 serialized titles (14.5% of all titles) from 302 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 41.3% and 72.9% complete.

Authorship

Gender of Authors
  • Women: 2,441 authors
  • Men: 2,747 authors
  • Unknown: 734 authors
Titles per Author by Gender
  • Women wrote 12,280 titles (5.1 per author)
  • Men wrote 10,612 titles (3.9 per author)
  • Unknown wrote 1,896 titles (2.6 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. Henrietta Keddie, 75 titles.
  12. R. M. Ballantyne, 75 titles.
  13. Annie S. Swan, 74 titles.
  14. Mary Louisa Molesworth, 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. George MacDonald, 30 titles.
  13. Adeline Sergeant, 30 titles.
  14. William Edward Norris, 27 titles.
  15. Dora Russell, 27 titles.
  16. Jules Verne, 26 titles.
  17. Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock, 26 titles.
  18. William Clark Russell, 26 titles.
  19. Frederick William Robinson, 26 titles.
  20. Wilkie Collins, 26 titles.

Publishing

Publishing Formats
  • One-volume titles: 17,451 titles (70.4% total titles)
  • Two-volume titles: 2,149 titles (8.7% total titles)
  • Three-volume titles: 5,169 titles (20.9% total titles)
  • Four-volume titles: 19 titles (0.1% total titles)
Most Prolific Publishers
  1. Hurst and Blackett, 1,148 titles.
  2. Bentley, 1,135 titles.
  3. S. P. C. K., 781 titles.
  4. R. T. S., 735 titles.
  5. Sampson Low, 705 titles.
  6. Chapman and Hall, 681 titles.
  7. Routledge, 657 titles.
  8. F. V. White, 617 titles.
  9. Tinsley Brothers, 612 titles.
  10. Chatto and Windus, 611 titles.
  11. Ward and Lock, 529 titles.
  12. T. C. Newby, 526 titles.
  13. Smith, Elder, 521 titles.
  14. Macmillan, 477 titles.
  15. James Nisbet, 401 titles.
  16. Nelson and Sons, 384 titles.
  17. Blackie, 348 titles.
  18. Hutchinson, 346 titles.
  19. Cassell, 343 titles.
  20. Griffith and Farran, 327 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. People's Friend, 73 serialized titles.
  10. Cornhill Magazine, 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, 55 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.