Journal des sçavans
The Journal des sçavans (later renamed Journal des savans and then Journal des savants, meaning 'Journal of the Learned') is the earliest academic journal published in Europe, established by Denis de Sallo. While often considered the earliest academic journal, it is not the earliest exclusively scientific journal—that distinction belongs to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The Journal des sçavans currently focuses on European history and premodern literature.
- founder
- Denis de Sallo
- field
- Academic journal (originally natural philosophy, church history, legal reports)
- current_focus
- European history and premodern literature
Lore & Background
The *Journal des sçavans*, first published in 1665, is recognized as the earliest academic and scientific journal in Europe. Its initial appearance was a twelve-page quarto pamphlet, and its original content encompassed obituaries of notable figures, church history, legal reports, and scientific findings, including natural philosophy. The journal is credited with publishing several landmark works: in 1676, it featured Ole Rømer’s determination of the speed of light, which demonstrated that light does not travel instantaneously; in 1684, it printed François Bernier’s racial theories; in 1692, it carried Leibniz’s first explication of his Monadology; and in 1762, it published Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron’s foundational study of Zoroastrianism. An 1817 article by Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, based on a misinterpretation of Japanese sources, led to the naming of the Bonin Islands. The journal ceased publication in 1792 during the French Revolution, briefly reappeared in 1797, and resumed regular publication in 1816 under the National Imprimery and the patronage of the Institut de France. From 1908 to 2020, it was published under the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and since 2021 by the Belgian company Peeters. Currently, the journal focuses on European history and premodern literature, remaining a leading publication in French humanities scholarship.
Reader's Guide
The Journal des sçavans, established by Denis de Sallo, is recognized as the earliest academic journal in Europe and is thought to be the first scientific journal. Its first issue, a twelve-page quarto pamphlet, appeared on 5 January 1665, shortly before the *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society*. Originally, its content encompassed obituaries of notable figures, church history, scientific findings, and legal reports, with natural philosophy included in its scope. The journal published several landmark articles, including Ole Rømer’s 1676 determination of the speed of light, which demonstrated that light does not propagate instantaneously. It also featured François Bernier’s racial theories in 1684, Leibniz’s first explication of Monadology in 1692, and Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron’s study of Zoroastrianism in 1762. Publication ceased in 1792 during the French Revolution, with a brief reappearance in 1797, but regular publication resumed in 1816 under the National Imprimery and the patronage of the Institut de France. From 1908 to 2020, the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres oversaw it; in 2021, Belgian publisher Peeters took over. Now focusing on European history and premodern literature, it remains a leading journal in French humanities scholarship.
From Pedlars to Print: The Pre-Press Era of News
Before the printing press existed, news traveled by the slowest and most unreliable means available. Merchants returning from distant ports, sailors, and travelers carried stories back to their home towns, where pedlars and traveling performers would relay them further. Ancient scribes sometimes committed these accounts to writing, but the whole process was fragile and inconsistent. In 1556, the Venetian government took a step toward regularity by issuing monthly handwritten newsletters called Notizie scritte, priced at one gazzetta—a coin whose name would eventually become synonymous with the newspaper itself. These avvisi carried political, military, and economic intelligence across Italy and broader Europe during the early modern period. Yet they were not true newspapers in the modern sense: they were not aimed at the general public and covered only a narrow band of subjects. In England and France of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, longer single-event accounts known as relations were printed as broadsheets, pamphlets, or small booklets, sometimes with woodcut illustrations. Because literacy remained low, these publications were frequently read aloud, blending written and oral culture in a single act of news consumption.
The German Cradle of the Modern Newspaper
By the fourteenth century, merchants in Italian and German cities were already compiling handwritten chronicles of significant events and sharing them among business contacts. The leap to mechanical reproduction came around 1600 in Germany, where the idea of using a printing press for news material first took hold. Semi-annual compilations called Messrelationen, or trade fair reports, had been produced since the 1580s for the major book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig. The publication widely regarded as the first true newspaper appeared in Strasbourg in 1605: a weekly called Relation aller Fuernemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien. Within a decade, gazettes were established in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Hamburg, and by 1650 some thirty German cities maintained active publications of this kind. A Latin-language semi-annual chronicle, the Mercurius Gallobelgicus, ran in Cologne from 1594 to 1635 but did not serve as a template for others. News moved through established networks centered on Antwerp, one linking France, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands, the other connecting Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Wars, diplomacy, and court gossip dominated the content.
The Nineteenth-Century Revolution in Publishing
The nineteenth century transformed newspaper publishing through a convergence of technological, commercial, and political shifts. High-speed printing presses combined with inexpensive wood-pulp newsprint made mass circulation economically viable, while the rapid spread of elementary education swelled the pool of potential readers. Political parties initially sponsored papers at local and national levels, but by the century's close, advertising had become the dominant revenue stream, driving owners to chase the largest possible circulation and soften partisan edges. The number of European newspapers held near six thousand through the 1860s and 1870s before doubling to twelve thousand by 1900. In those earlier decades, a typical paper ran four pages of editorials, reprinted speeches, literary excerpts, and a handful of small local advertisements, and was expensive enough that most readers consulted it in a café. Each decade brought faster presses; the 1880s saw automatic typesetting make overnight printing of a large morning edition feasible. Liberalism dismantled newspaper taxes and sharply curtailed government censorship, while profit-driven entrepreneurs gradually displaced politically motivated publishers, pushing prices down to a penny and expanding the subscription base dramatically.
Yellow Journalism and the New Reader
In New York, a distinct editorial style known as Yellow Journalism emerged, borrowing its name from the colored comic strips it featured. This approach leaned heavily on sensationalism, gave prominent space to team sports, de-emphasized detailed political reporting and speeches, expanded crime coverage, and devoted vast sections to advertising, particularly for major department stores. A significant cultural shift was the inclusion of women, who had previously been largely ignored by the press. Multiple advice columns addressing family life, household management, and fashion appeared, and advertising campaigns increasingly targeted a female audience. This commercial reorientation reflected the broader trend in which entrepreneurs seeking profit replaced politicians seeking to shape party positions, producing a dramatic outreach to a wider and more diverse readership. The result was a press that spoke to everyday concerns—sports, crime, fashion, shopping—alongside traditional political and literary content, fundamentally reshaping who read newspapers and why they bought them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Journal des sçavans the earliest scientific journal in the world?
Not quite; it is the earliest academic journal in Europe, but the title of earliest exclusively scientific journal belongs to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The two differ in both scope and national origin.
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