Transnational connections and the comparative approach

Connections between Britain and non-Anglophone countries have always been strong. Authors, publishers, advertising agents, and other generators and transmitters of popular culture were all well aware of the global marketplace. For examples, Louis James long ago told us of the importance of French literature in the 1840s popular market and Palmegiano has compiled a brief monograph outlining nineteenth-century British views of European journalism in 44 periodicals.1 Thequestion is how can the researcher identify and study them?This article argues that the most obvious way is by using periodicals to research trans-national themes: modernism, “orientalist” trade, cultural and scientific exchange, design and fashion would fall under this heading. Much work has been done on these areas in general, but in periodical studies the field of comparative study beyond the English-speaking world and the British Empire is still relatively unexplored. The author has researched some areas for further exploration,focussing on Germany, France and Japan: science periodicals in Europe, women’s uses of periodicals in late nineteenth century Japan versus Anglophone and European countries,periodicals for ex-patriot communities and satirical publications.Winner of the Colby Prize for Victorian Periodicals, 2017