Sell's Dictionary of the World's Press. By Henry Sell. (167
Fleet Street. 7s. 6d.)—This is not by any means a mere index or catalogue of newspapers, magazines, and periodicals of various kinds. It gives such an index, very complete as regards the extent, of information and the accuracy of detail. But it also contains a considerable amount of eminently interesting matter. There are two articles on the " Outlook for Liberal Journalism," one written from the Liberal, the other from the Conservative, point of view. In 1880 there were twenty-five Liberal to thirteen Conservative penny dailies ; in 1901 there were fifteen Liberal to twenty Unionist. But politics do not mean everything in the fortunes of a newspaper. Manchester is almost solidly Conserva- tive in politics, returning but one Liberal out of nine Members. Yet the Manchester Guardian with its extreme Pro-Boer views continues to hold its own. (It would be interesting, however, to know how much of its circulation is outside Manchester.) Then there is a paper, "Two Centuries of Daily Journalism," by Alexander Paterson ; and "A Glance at the Comic Papers of the Victorian Era," by J. Fonlar Wilson, with some amusing illustra- tions. On the whole, there has been an improvement in this respect. Punch in its early days was often spitefully personal. Silk Buckingham, Jullien, Alfred Bunn, and the Morning Post were objects of attacks suggested by private dislike. The comic Press of England, however, has never descended to the infamies which disgrace similar publications in Berlin and Paris. But, then a German, though, according to Count Below, he is always " well-bred," and a Frenchman, who, strangely enough, has a reputation for politeness, can be unspeakably brutal on occasion. In good manners they are at least a century behind. This essay ought to be separately published. There are other papers of interest in this volume.
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