ABSTRACT
Rather than considering the relationship between genres through the usual focus on writer or reader, this chapter concerns the publisher. It demonstrates how closely linked books and periodicals can be, and how important it is to consider them together. The chapter discusses the publishing programme of Religious Tract Society (RTS) in the 1840s and 1850s, and shows how books and periodicals could be used together, as part of a combined programme of trying to reach working-class readers. It introduces the Visitor, the Monthly Volume Series, and the Leisure Hour, before discussing the similarities and differences between two periodicals and the book series. The chapter argues that although officially the Leisure Hour replaced the Visitor, its production and marketing owed at least as much to the society’s previous experiences with the Monthly Series. As one of the largest religious publishers, the RTS expected and was expected to lead the attack on corrupting literature.
