Britain in the 19th century was home to the industrial revolution and, as in all areas, there was significant innovation in the production of newspapers, which had until then remained virtually unchanged from the Gutenberg press. The Times plays a central role in this innovation as the first purchasers of Frederic Koenig and Andrew Bauer's steam-driven printing press in 1814. In the 29th November 1814 issue of The Times, the first to be printed by the new method, it is described as being “almost organic” and “the greatest invention connected with the printing press since the discovery of the art itself”. Koenig & Bauer's press could print over 1100 pages in an hour.
Another innovation in printing would come later in 1843 when Richard M. Hoe, an American inventor, created the world's first rotary printing press, which allowed for the printing of millions of copies a day. The first rotary press in Britain appears to have been made in the office of The Times by Ambrose Applegarth in 1847. The rotary printing press is still in use today.
With regards to the spread of news, an important development was the new overland route from Britain to India via Egypt, created by Thomas Fletcher Waghorn. The new route cut the journey's length from 16,000 miles (overseas) to 6000 miles (overland). What was a 3-month journey by the best mail steamer in 1825 could be undertaken in just 47 days by 1834. Waghorn's route helped speed the delivery of news from around the world. In turn, newspapers could publish more at a faster pace as world news came in at an unprecedented rate. This was especially important for merchants, to whom information on the fluctuations of market prices across the world was highly valuable.
On top of this, the telegram had begun to be incorporated in the acquisition of news, first by The Times and then by other newspapers, including, of course, The Daily Telegraph, whose name is a testament to its importance in transmitting news. The spread of newspapers was accelerating: on 11th December 1849, thanks to advancements in both the railway and the telegraph, 150 copies of The Times were delivered at 1:30 PM in Paris on the same day as publication.
The so-called 'tax on knowledge' was a tax imposed by the British government on all newspapers in 1712. By 1815, they were being taxed at 4d (4 pence) a copy. Most people could not afford newspapers, which were priced at 6d or 7d, limiting their readership and growth. This changed in 1855 when the tax was repealed, allowing newspapers to price themselves more competitively and giving rise to many new daily publications, including the The Daily Telegraph, The Morning Star and the Manchester Guardian (which hitherto had been a weekly paper).
Mowbray Morris, a journalist of the era, said that “there is no reason why a daily newspaper should not be published for one penny with a moderate profit,” but that “it is impossible to produce a first-class paper at that price.” The Telegraph and Standard, both one-penny papers, would prove him wrong, becoming respectable newspapers in their own right with quality rivalling the expensive Times. By the 1860s, The Times had a readership of 50,000, and the Telegraph a readership of 30,000.
Sources
- The History of the Times, Vol. II, The Tradition Established
- The March of Journalism: The Story of the British Press from 1622 to the Present Day, Harold Herd (1952)
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRknowledge.htm
- http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/196806/mr.waghorn.s.route.to.india.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_printing_press
- Notes on the History of Science and Technology in London, David Singmaster
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