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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2023
‘I will come toward you with honest information, and not hide my talent in a Napkin.’
In addition to the publishers, a number of different editors who were involved with the news press in London during the Thirty Years War made a contribution to the evolution of the news periodical. Of these, the editors Thomas Gainsford and William Watts are best known for their efforts in shaping news publications and building a relationship with readers by speaking directly to them in editorial prefaces. They are associated with two periods of intense demand for news at times of heightened interest in European events, when editorial innovation and experimentation with the methods for gathering and presenting the news significantly accelerated. These two rationalised the reports that arrived at irregular intervals from a variety of continental sources and converted the material into newsbooks suitable for an English readership. They helped to educate and inform an emerging market of newly literate customers about the crisis in Europe.
The publishers needed to expand their base income by reaching out to increase the frequency of sales to poorer readers. Only the most affluent readers could be relied upon to subscribe as purchasing on a weekly basis was too costly for many, however, the price of a single issue was affordable to a wide range of the literate public. Though most other obstacles to reading were beyond the control of the publishers, including lack of leisure, privacy and even the effectiveness of candlelight, this did not deter them from tackling the barriers they could. They aimed to increase the appeal of issues to make them accessible to new readers by editing to transform imports, compiled from multiple sources, into something with a closer resemblance to popular news pamphlets. To extend sales to many who were first generation literate and unfamiliar with European politics and geography, or military matters, they needed explanations to make them more comprehensible.
Most Londoners had an interest in the foreign news but lacked knowledge.
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