Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
that the purchase of topics such as those by Meijlink and Girardin took
up a full week's salary.
14
These were simply out of reach for workers.
Between 1845 and 1865 that situation changed dramatically, though.
The popularization of chemistry entered a new phase, in which scientists,
educators, and publishers sought to reach the common working man with
new means and also broadened their effort (again) towards young people.
Furthermore, as a by-product of the increasing professionalization of sci-
ence, various scientists felt the need to legitimate their field vis-à-vis the
public.
In this reemergence and broadening of science popularization, pub-
lishers played a major role.
15
From about 1830 enterprising publishers
entered the stage, trying to open up a mass market by offering topics at
low prices and filling them with attractive illustrations. Thereby in inno-
vative ways they combined the possibilities of a number of recent techni-
cal breakthroughs - such as the technique of wood engraving (ca. 1790),
cheaper machine-made paper (ca. 1800), stereotype (ca. 1800), and the
steam press (1811) - into the commercially successful product of the il-
lustrated, affordable book.
16
French publishers, with their reasonably
priced book series (ca. 1825), and their British colleagues, who first ap-
plied woodcuts on a large scale (ca. 1832), led the way (Simons 1915,
pp. 15-8; Van Lente & De Wit 1993, pp. 190, 257-8). The launching of
Penny Magazine
in March 1832 by the English publisher Charles Knight,
in collaboration with the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,
marked a definitive breakthrough. This magazine's success was over-
whelming. Within a year its circulation rose to 200,000 copies, an unpre-
cedented number. For the first time there was a magazine that was also
widely read - and seen - by workers. If the popularization of science and
technology was certainly a main aspect of the formula of Knight's maga-
14
The topic by Van der Boon Mesch was priced at approx. 4.80 guilders per volume (so
14.40 for the three volumes!), Erdmann at 3 (1 volume in 2 parts), Meijlink at 2.75,
and Girardin at 7. For these prices, see Van der Meulen 1876.
15
In the case of Liebig, see his fascinating correspondence with his publisher Vieweg
(Schneider 1986).
16
These innovations were introduced slightly later in the Netherlands: wood engraving
approx. 1834, machine-made paper approx. 1834-38, and the fast press approx. 1828
(steam only after approx. 1850) (Van Lente & De Wit 1993, pp. 188-91, 205-10, 228-
32, 256-60, 263-5, 276-81; Anderson 1994, pp. 2-3, 10-2, 72).
