The Fortnightly Review

Title page of the first edition of The Fortnightly Review (1865)

The Fortnightly Review was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000; the first edition appeared on 15 May 1865. George Henry Lewes, the partner of George Eliot, was its first editor, followed by John Morley.

History

The title page of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution (1st ed., 1867). As the subtitle indicates, the book was a collection of essays which were first published in The Fortnightly Review between 15 May 1865 and 1 January 1867.

The Fortnightly Review aimed to offer a platform for a range of ideas, in reaction to the highly partisan journalism of its day. Indeed, in announcing the first issue of the Fortnightly in the Saturday Review of 13 May 1865, G. H. Lewes wrote, "The object of THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW is to become the organ of the unbiassed expression of many and various minds on topics of general interest in Politics, Literature, Philosophy, Science, and Art." But by the time Lewes left due to ill health and was replaced by 28-year-old John Morley, the Fortnightly had become known as a partisan and Liberal magazine. It was one of the first publications to name the authors of its articles at a time when work usually appeared anonymously or under a pseudonym. As might be expected from its name, it appeared every two weeks during its first year, at 2 shillings a copy, but was published monthly thereafter. John Sutherland called it an English Revue des Deux Mondes and noted that it was "pitched at a higher level than other English journals of its class".

The Fortnightly prospered under John Morley, its sales increasing to 2,500 by 1872. Morley, a liberal, published articles favouring reform in academia, work place relations, female emancipation and religion. A host of famous and soon-to-be-famous literary figures were featured in its pages, with three novels by Anthony Trollope and two by George Meredith appearing in serial form. The first novel serialised in the magazine was Trollope's The Belton Estate, from 15 May 1865 to 1 January 1866. Trollope's The Eustace Diamonds and his radical novel Lady Anna also made their first appearance there. The Fortnightly also published the poetry of Algernon Charles Swinburne, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Morris.

Morley fell out of favour with the more conservative publishers of the journal and was replaced by T. H. S. Escott in 1882. The new editor published political articles from across the spectrum in a return to the Review's original intention. Ill health forced him to relinquish the reins in 1886 when Frank Harris took over for eight successful years. Houghton reports that “almost every distinguished English writer and critic of the day was among his contributors”. Harris' liberal views led to his replacement as editor in 1894 by the long serving W. L. Courtney (1894-1928), who featured work from some of the giants of early 20th century literature, including James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, and Ezra Pound. In addition to literature and politics, the magazine also published several articles on science, notably astronomy, animal behaviour and topical issues of instinct and morality.

Oscar Wilde's aphoristic preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray was published in the March 1891 issue; and George Orwell's essay "Bookshop Memories" appeared in November 1936.

The Fortnightly Review also published several ghost stories by Oliver Onions.

The print magazine ceased publication in 1954 and was incorporated into the Contemporary Review.

In 2009 a group of British and American scholars and writers, including philosopher Anthony O'Hear, director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, began publication of a "new series" online of The Fortnightly Review, with the aim of extending Lewes's original editorial ambitions to modern politics, literature, philosophy, science, and art. New articles are sometimes juxtaposed with significant archival material. In partnership with the University of Kansas, where Harris once attended, the Fortnightly also publishes the winning essay of the Trollope Prize and a series of books and monographs under its "Odd Volumes" imprint. The current editors are Alan Macfarlane and Denis Boyles.

Further reading

• Houghton, Walter, ed. The Fortnightly Review. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900. Vol. 2. Toronto:Univ. of Toronto Press, 1966. pp. 173–183.
• Sullivan, Alvin, ed. The Fortnightly Review. British Literary Magazines. vol. 3. Westport, CT:Greenwood Press, 1983-. pp. 131–135.

External links

• The Fortnightly Review at Hathi Trust
• The Fortnightly Review (New Series)
• Rossetti Archive of selected volumes.
• Abstract of Science articles

Internet Archive – Text Archives Individual Volumes
Volume	Date of Publication	Notes
Volume 2	1865
Volume 3	1866
Volume 5	1866
Volume 6	1866
Volume 9	1868	Volume 3 (new series)
Volume 11	1869	Volume 5 (new series)
Volume 12	1869	Volume 6 (new series)
Volume 13	1870	Volume 7 (new series)
Volume 15	1871	Volume 9 (new series)
Volume 16	1871	Volume 10 (new series)
Volume 17	1872	Volume 11 (new series)
Volume 18	1872	Volume 12 (new series)
Volume 21	1874	Volume 15 (new series)
Volume 22	1874	Volume 16 (new series)
Volume 23	1875	Volume 17 (new series)
Volume 24	1875	Volume 18 (new series)
Volume 25	1876	Volume 19 (new series)
Volume 26	1876	Volume 20 (new series)
Volume 27	1877	Volume 21 (new series)
Volume 28	1877	Volume 22 (new series)
Volume 29	1878	Volume 23 (new series)
Volume 30	1878	Volume 24 (new series)
Volume 31	1879	Volume 25 (new series)
Volume 32	1879	Volume 26 (new series)
Volume 33	1880	Volume 27 (new series)
Volume 35	1881	Volume 29 (new series)
Volume 36	1881	Volume 30 (new series)
Volume 37	1882	Volume 31 (new series)
Volume 39	1883	Volume 33 (new series)
Volume 40	1883	Volume 34 (new series)
Volume 46	1889
Volume 49	1891
Volume 51	1892
Volume 67	1897	Volume 61 (new series)
Volume 69	1898	Volume 63 (new series)
Volume 77	1902	Volume 71 (new series)
Volume 75	1904
Volume 83	1905	Volume 77 (new series)
Volume 84	1905	Volume 78 (new series)
Volume 89	1908	Volume 83 (new series)
Volume 99	1913	Volume 93 (new series)
Volume 106	1919
Volume 107	1920	Volume 101 (new series)
Volume 108	1920
Volume 115	1921	Volume 110 (new series)