The publishers supplied a protective cardboard wrapper to hold vols. 1 and 2 together. The inside of spine of the protective covers contain a series of vertical strings through which owners c
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The publishers supplied a protective cardboard wrapper to hold vols. 1 and 2 together. The inside of spine of the protective covers contain a series of vertical strings tied to the binding at the head and foot of the spine, through which owners could slide the separate issues so that they would be loosely held into the protective covers.
Girardin Journal des connaissances utiles title page of vol. 1.
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The title page of the first issue, for October, November and December 1831, bragged that it was printed in an edition of 100,000--an uncommonly huge edition size for a periodical at the time. Because the first issue was intended to cover three months of a monthly periodical, the publisher gave himself sufficient time to produce 100,000 copies when printing machines in France were in short supply, and to prepare for more efficient high volume production by January 1832.
Girardin published his journal under the auspices for the "National Society for Intellectual Emancipation." This was his adaptation of concepts involved in the English Society for the Diffusi
Girardin published his journal under the auspices for the "National Society for Intellectual Emancipation." This was his adaptation of concepts involved in the English Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK).
Here Girardin announced that he would be publishing L'Almanach de France in an edition of no less than 1,300,000 copies--definite an edition size probably never attempted by this date.
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Here Girardin announced that he would be publishing L'Almanach de France in an edition of no less than 1,300,000 copies--definitely an edition size probably never attempted in any country at this date. He specified that it would contain 256 pages, 511 columns of text containing 600,800 letters of type and 44 engravings. Whether he ever achieved the production and sale of such a huge number of copies may never be known. He also stated that by the second year of the Journal des Connaissances Utiles the printing run of the journal reached 130,000 copies.
Detail map of Paris, Île-de-France, France Overview map of Paris, Île-de-France, France

A: Paris, Île-de-France, France

Emile de Girardin Launches the First Mass-Market Periodical: "Journal des Connaissances Utiles" "For Every Man Who Can Read"

10/1831
Vols. 1 and 2 of the Journal des connaissances utiles, unbound as issued. Note the index to Vol. 1 and the printed wrapper loosely placed around vol. 2.
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Vols. 1 and 2 of the Journal des connaissances utiles, unbound as issued. Note the index to Vol. 1 and the printed wrapper loosely placed around vol. 2.

In October 1831, twenty-five year old French journalist and publisher Émile de Girardin launched the Journal des connaissances utiles indiquant à tous les hommes qui savent lire. In keeping with Girardin's policy of maximizing circulation by publishing at a low price, the Journal was sold for only 4 francs per year. The title page of the first volume boldly stated that 100,000 copies of the journal were printed--a circulation for an issue of a periodical that had not previously been achieved in France, or anywhere else.

Girardin published the Journal under the auspices of the Bureaux de la Société Nationale pour l'Émancipation Intellectuelle, a French adaptation of concepts promoted by the English Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK). Unlike the SDUK's The Penny Magazine published by Charles Knight, Girardin kept the format of the Journal modest, with much small type and a bare minimum of simple woodcuts.

According to Pierre Albert, "Le Journal des connaissances utiles de Girardin (1831-1836...) ou la première réussite de la presse à bon marché," Revue du Nord, 66 (1984) 741, in 1831 printing 100,000 copies with the very limited number of printing machines then in Paris required 9 printing machines operated by 5 Parisian printers. Production of each number took a month: composition took 8 days, corrections 3 days, stereotyping 4 days, printing 8 days, and 7 days for folding and distribution. Therefore it was necessary at this time found the Journal des connaissances utiles as a monthly.

Timeline Themes

News Media / Journalism
Education / Scholarship / Reading / Literacy
Book Production in the Industrial Revolution: Origins of Mass Media