The Victorians and Information: A Social and Cultural History

We are said to be living in an information world, but as early as 1853, The Times was writing of ?an age of information?. Historical interest in our contemporary information age and in the historical tools and techniques of information processing and management has been the subject of much recent information history scholarship. This book offers a contrast to existing technologically driven histories of the information age. It explores the Victorians? relationship with information and knowledge from a social and cultural perspective and challenges the chronology of ?modern? information. Using primary source material, the book explores case studies of individuals as well more detailed examination of etiquette books, periodicals, and the Channel Tunnel panics of the 1880s. In "The Victorians and Information", Dr Toni Weller argues that the nineteenth century formed the crux point between pre-modern, and what we would now recognise as modern, conceptualisations of information. This book will be of interest to historians, information scholars and students, as well as anyone with a more general curiosity in the social and cultural history of our contemporary information world.