Monday, October 7, 2013

Random-ize: Bentley's Miscellany and the spelling of -ize suffix verbs

Founded by the publisher of the Standard Novels series, Richard Bentley, his Miscellany was a literary magazine, publishing novels in installment form. The first editor was Charles Dickens, whose second novel, Oliver Twist, first appeared in the magazine, starting in the first issue.
This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page. For more on the spelling of -ize verbs in periodicals, see the Periodicals start page.

Wikipedia

Bentley's Miscellany 1836 - 1868

For the first twelve years, s spellings are more numerous, but becoming increasingly less dominant, somewhat against the trend ocurring in other contemporary magazines. Around 1848/9 there's a swing to z spellings, followed around 1854 by a counterswing to s. This swing to z before a final change to s seems fairly typical of nineteenth century publications. This suggests to me that publishers / printers were mainly concerned with consistency.

Publishers and printers

In 1852, according to Wikipedia, ex-editor William Harrison Ainsworth bought the magazine from Bentley, which could explain the move to a new printer, Woodall and Kinder. On the title page of the magazine itself, however, the publisher continues to be listed as Richerd Bentley. A further change of printer around 1855 does seem to coincide with a more consisistent use of s spellings. In 1868, it was sold back to Bentley, who incorporated it into the Temple Bar magazine, published by Ward and Lock, and which had started in 1860.
  • Samuel Bentley, Dorset Street, Fleet Street (Vols 1-6)
  • S. and J. Bentley, Wilson and Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane (to Vol 23)
  • S. and J. Bentley and Henry Fley (Vol 25 - 27)
  • Samuel Bentley and Co. (Vol 28 - 32)
  • Woodall and Kinder, Angel Court, Skinner Street (Vol 33 - 36)
  • C. Whiting, Beaufort House, Strand (Vol 37 - at least Vol 62)

Main table comparing -ize verbs spelt with a z and with an s.

From search results at Google Books. All figures are checkable at the entries for individual volumes, in the next section.
-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-izationtotal-ise-ised-ising-isationtotal
Vol 1 1837 151512 17147038
Vol 2 1837 360615 13356155
Vol 5 1839 6124527 8254239
Vol 14 1843 3112723 13150028
Vol 21 1847 7173431 11182637
Vol 26 1849 82732159 10216239
Vol 31 1852 1126102370 11153130
Vol 33 1853 133471771 7111019
Vol 34 1853 122841660 7136531
Vol 35 1854 162514 172381563
Vol 36 1854 41139 154531477
Vol 37 1855 00000 174072084
Vol 38 1855 00000 153741672
Vol 41 1857 00000 27427783
Vol 44 1858 00022 2550725107

Individual volumes

Click on the numbers to see instances in the relevant volume at Google Books.

Vol 1 1837

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 11
authorise 1
characterise 11
civilise 242
criticise
monopolise 11
organise 1
realise 2122
recognise 89
sympathise 64
totals 1515 171470

Vol 2 1837

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 131
authorise 11
characterise 121
civilise 35
criticise
monopolise 3
organise 11
realise 11131
recognise 7232
sympathise 232
totals 3606 133561

Vol 5 1839

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 122
authorise 1
characterise 1211
civilise 4511
criticise 11
monopolise 11
organise
realise 23131
recognise 1214162
sympathise 1111
totals 61245 82542

Vol 14 1843

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 1111
authorise
characterise 3
civilise 451
criticise 1
monopolise
organise 112
realise 11
recognise 13510
sympathise 116
totals 31127 131500

Vol 21 1847

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 1
authorise 1411
characterise 1111
civilise 325
criticise 2
monopolise 11
organise 1211
realise 3113
recognise 1612151
sympathise 111
totals 71734 111826

Vol 26 1849

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 1111
authorise 111
characterise 2112
civilise 212192
criticise 2
monopolise 111
organise 11
realise 1514
recognise 15613
sympathise 1123
totals 827321 102162

Vol 31 1852

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 11
authorise 111
characterise 233
civilise 911111
criticise 21
monopolise
organise 12261
realise 1625
recognise 643661
sympathise 112221
totals 11261023 111531

Vol 33 1853

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 331
authorise 33
characterise 12
civilise 171131
criticise 21
monopolise 11
organise 23312
realise 1621
recognise 312133
sympathise 21
totals 1334717 71110

Vol 34 1853

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 1221
authorise 1
characterise 121
civilise 1721013
criticise 11
monopolise 11
organise 52422
realise 32221
recognise 46171
sympathise 1223
totals 1228416 71365

Vol 35 1854

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 11
authorise 3
characterise 1
civilise 2117110
criticise 11
monopolise 11
organise 21365
realise 11132
recognise 1723
sympathise 313
totals 1625 1723815

Vol 36 1854

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 11
authorise 2
characterise 1231
civilise 121186
criticise 2
monopolise 1
organise 516
realise 112311
recognise 11512
sympathise 1111
totals 4113 1545314

Vol 37 1855

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 11
authorise
characterise 16
civilise 615
criticise 2
monopolise
organise 154
realise 1621
recognise 7161
sympathise 44
totals 0000 1740720

Vol 38 1855

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 1
authorise 1
characterise 7
civilise 312
criticise 311
monopolise 11
organise 121
realise 463
recognise 318
sympathise 3
totals 0000 1537416

Vol 41 1857

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 13
authorise 1
characterise 331
civilise 95
criticise 1
monopolise 1
organise 1
realise 71351
recognise 1011
sympathise 511
totals 0000 274277

Vol 44 1858

Verb-ize-ise
-ize-ized-izing-ization-ise-ised-ising-isation
apologise 121
authorise 1
characterise 34
civilise 21118
criticise 1
monopolise
organise 2215
realise 7832
recognise 9222
sympathise 2
totals 0002 2550725

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