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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 27,165 title entries, 6,657 author entries, and 849 publisher entries between the years 1837 and 1901. In addition, the database contains 3,618 serialized titles (13.3% 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 45.3% and 79.9% complete.

Authorship

Gender of Authors
  • Women: 2,810 authors
  • Men: 3,142 authors
  • Unknown: 777 authors
Titles per Author by Gender
  • Women wrote 13,508 titles (4.8 per author)
  • Men wrote 11,627 titles (3.8 per author)
  • Unknown wrote 2,030 titles (2.6 per author)
Most Prolific Authors

Note: only counts titles published in period.

  1. Emma Marshall, 163 titles.
  2. Evelyn Ward Everett Green, 143 titles.
  3. William Henry Giles Kingston, 136 titles.
  4. George Manville Fenn, 125 titles.
  5. Emma Leslie, 111 titles.
  6. Elizabeth Thomasina Meade, 103 titles.
  7. Margaret Oliphant, 100 titles.
  8. George Alfred Henty, 94 titles.
  9. Charlotte Mary Yonge, 82 titles.
  10. Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard, 81 titles.
  11. Charlotte Maria Tucker, 76 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. William Gordon Stables, 69 titles.
  18. Florence Marryat, 68 titles.
  19. William Clark Russell, 66 titles.
  20. Annie Thomas, 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. Wilkie Collins, 26 titles.
  19. Jules Verne, 26 titles.
  20. Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock, 26 titles.

Publishing

Publishing Formats
  • One-volume titles: 19,800 titles (72.9% total titles)
  • Two-volume titles: 2,177 titles (8.0% total titles)
  • Three-volume titles: 5,169 titles (19.0% 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, 1,145 titles.
  3. R. T. S., 933 titles.
  4. S. P. C. K., 893 titles.
  5. Sampson Low, 756 titles.
  6. Routledge, 737 titles.
  7. Chapman and Hall, 697 titles.
  8. Chatto and Windus, 633 titles.
  9. F. V. White, 623 titles.
  10. Tinsley Brothers, 618 titles.
  11. Ward and Lock, 572 titles.
  12. T. C. Newby, 530 titles.
  13. Smith, Elder, 524 titles.
  14. Macmillan, 483 titles.
  15. Nelson and Sons, 446 titles.
  16. James Nisbet, 446 titles.
  17. Blackie, 416 titles.
  18. Cassell, 407 titles.
  19. Griffith and Farran, 384 titles.
  20. Frederick Warne, 366 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.