The Origins of the Book Review in England, 1663–1749.

This article examines the origins of the practice of book reviewing in England prior to the 1749 founding of the Monthly Review. As early as the 1660s, periodicals contained various kinds of notices (like advertisements or publication announcements) and reviews of new works that aimed to inform readers of the existence and content of particular books. An examination of a broad variety of these notices, which vary in sophistication from rudimentary to refined, reveals a range of evaluative discussions that provides a glimpse of contemporary reading tastes and habits. The attention to books in periodicals also demonstrates the close connections between the press and the book trades: many writers and publishers seem to have been encouraging public attention to books, marketing books published by themselves or their associates, or capitalizing on reader interest in newly published works to sell periodicals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]