Small image of a man handing a book to a women across a counter.

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 23,225 title entries, 5,331 author entries, and 727 publisher entries between the years 1837 and 1901. In addition, the database contains 3,529 serialized titles (15.2% of all titles) from 299 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 38.7% and 68.3% complete.

Authorship

Gender of Authors
  • Women: 2,200 authors
  • Men: 2,572 authors
  • Unknown: 638 authors
Titles per Author by Gender
  • Women wrote 11,367 titles (5.2 per author)
  • Men wrote 10,174 titles (4.0 per author)
  • Unknown wrote 1,684 titles (2.7 per author)
Most Prolific Authors
  1. Emma Marshall, 150 titles.
  2. Evelyn Ward Everett Green, 136 titles.
  3. William Henry Giles Kingston, 121 titles.
  4. George Manville Fenn, 117 titles.
  5. Emma Leslie, 103 titles.
  6. Margaret Oliphant, 100 titles.
  7. George Alfred Henty, 94 titles.
  8. Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard, 81 titles.
  9. Charlotte Mary Yonge, 81 titles.
  10. Elizabeth Thomasina Meade, 77 titles.
  11. Mary Louisa Molesworth, 74 titles.
  12. Annie S. Swan, 74 titles.
  13. Henrietta Keddie, 74 titles.
  14. R. M. Ballantyne, 71 titles.
  15. Charlotte Maria Tucker, 70 titles.
  16. Florence Marryat, 67 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, 32 titles.
  11. Ellen Wood, 31 titles.
  12. Adeline Sergeant, 30 titles.
  13. George MacDonald, 30 titles.
  14. Dora Russell, 27 titles.
  15. Wilkie Collins, 26 titles.
  16. Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock, 26 titles.
  17. Jules Verne, 26 titles.
  18. William Clark Russell, 26 titles.
  19. Frederick William Robinson, 26 titles.
  20. Benjamin Leopold Farjeon, 25 titles.

Publishing

Publishing Formats
  • One-volume titles: 15,897 titles (68.4% total titles)
  • Two-volume titles: 2,141 titles (9.2% total titles)
  • Three-volume titles: 5,168 titles (22.3% total titles)
  • Four-volume titles: 19 titles (0.1% total titles)
Most Prolific Publishers
  1. Hurst and Blackett, 1,142 titles.
  2. Bentley, 1,129 titles.
  3. Chapman and Hall, 674 titles.
  4. Sampson Low, 673 titles.
  5. S. P. C. K., 661 titles.
  6. F. V. White, 616 titles.
  7. Tinsley Brothers, 606 titles.
  8. Chatto and Windus, 603 titles.
  9. R. T. S., 599 titles.
  10. Routledge, 597 titles.
  11. T. C. Newby, 523 titles.
  12. Smith, Elder, 518 titles.
  13. Ward, Lock, 499 titles.
  14. Macmillan, 471 titles.
  15. James Nisbet, 364 titles.
  16. Hutchinson, 347 titles.
  17. Nelson and Sons, 344 titles.
  18. Longman, 322 titles.
  19. Cassell, 319 titles.
  20. T. Fisher Unwin, 311 titles.
Most Prolific Fiction-Carrying Periodicals

Note: counts novels only, not short stories.

  1. Manchester Weekly Times, 138 serialized titles.
  2. The Family Herald, 137 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, 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.