ABSTRACT
The ANNUAL REVIEW (1802–1808) was a thick (nearly 1,000-page) volume numbered by years, but the volumes tended to appear a year or so later than the date they bore. Published by Longman’s, the Annual was edited by Arthur Aikin (1773–1854) for its first six issues; the seventh and final volume was edited by Thomas Rees, younger brother of Owen Rees (Longman’s partner). Among the chief contributors were the editor’s father, Dr. John Aikin (editor of the Monthly Magazine, q. v.), the editor’s aunt Mrs. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and his sister Lucy Aikin, Robert Southey, and William Taylor of Norwich; the work paid so poorly, however, that its most talented contributors tended to regard their writing for it as “task-work,” or conscientious hack-work.
