The Annual Register - Edmund Burke and The Creation of The Annual Register

Edmund Burke and The Creation of The Annual Register

The Annual Register was created in 1758 by the publishers James and Robert Dodsley. On 24 April 1758 the Dodsley brothers signed a contract with Edmund Burke (1729–97) to write and edit the material for The Annual Register, which was conceived as an annual publication which would review the history, politics and literature of the day. Born in Ireland, Burke had trained as a lawyer before abandoning this field and turning to writing. He was an up and coming member of the intelligentsia and had already written several notable works, published by Dodsley. According to his contract with Dodsley, Burke was paid £100 pounds per annum as editor of The Annual Register.

In its original form, The Annual Register comprised a long historical essay on the “History of the Present War” (the Seven Years' War 1756–63), a Chronology, which gave an account of interesting and noteworthy events in Britain over the previous year, and a collection of “State Papers”, a miscellany of primary source material which included official documents, speeches, letters and accounts. In his preface to the 1758 volume Burke noted the difficulties he had faced in writing the history section of the book. Taking the “broken and unconnected materials” and creating from them “one connected narrative” had been, he commented, “a work of more labour than may at first appear”. Nevertheless, his perseverance and skill as an historian meant that by the time of its publication the first volume of The Annual Register contained a unique, contemporaneous account of the war, analysing its origins and development with a perspective not readily available at the time in newspapers or magazines. As a result the book sold widely, with the first volume going through five editions in its first 10 years.

Given the conventions of the day, within which journalism was seen as a disreputable profession for a gentleman, Burke was publicly reticent about his connection with The Annual Register. However, his biographers are in agreement that Burke wrote and edited the book single-handedly until 1765 when he entered Parliament. From this time Thomas English was closely involved in writing the book and is regarded by some authorities as having taken over the editorship from Burke in that year. Scholars are divided on the question of Burke’s association with the book thereafter, although many suggest that he continued to contribute to the history section and that he played a significant role in overseeing The Annual Register’s compilation until the 1790s, even though much of the editorial work by this stage was being done by others.