Editing Notes and Queries

{{about|the quarterly publication|the newspaper column with the same title|Notes & Queries}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox journal
| title         = Notes and Queries
| cover         = [[Image:N&qcover.gif]]
| discipline    = [[English language]], [[English literature]], [[lexicography]], [[history]]
| abbreviation  = Notes Queries
| website       = https://academic.oup.com/nq
| publisher     = [[Oxford University Press]]
| country       = [[United Kingdom|UK]]
| history       = 1849 to present
| ISSN = 0029-3970
}}
'''''Notes and Queries''''', also styled '''''Notes & Queries''''', is a long-running [[quarterly]] [[scholarly journal]] that publishes short articles related to "[[English literature|English language and literature]], [[lexicography]], [[history]], and scholarly [[antiquarian]]ism".<ref name=inner>From the inner sleeve of all modern issues of ''Notes and Queries''.</ref> Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative".<ref name=inner/> The journal has a long history, having been established in 1849 in London;<ref name=vol1>[https://archive.org/details/notesqueries01londuoft ''Notes and Queries'', Series 1, Volume 1, Nov 1849 - May 1850], via [[Internet Archive]]</ref> it is now published by [[Oxford University Press]].

The journal was originally subtitled "a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, [[antiquarian|antiquaries]], [[genealogist]]s, etc".<ref name=vol1/> It is now subtitled "For readers and writers, collectors and librarians".<ref name=inner/> Its motto was once "When found, make a note of",<ref name=vol1/> the catchphrase of Capt. Cuttle, a character in [[Dickens]]'s novel ''[[Dombey and Son]]''.

It is the 250th-most-quoted source in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (3rd ed.), giving 1,633 quotations, many being first evidence of a word or a particular meaning.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oed.com/view/source/w106 |title=Notes and Queries |newspaper=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |access-date= 27 February 2016}}</ref>

==Format==
''Notes and Queries'' was first published in 1849 as a weekly [[periodical]] edited by [[William Thoms|W. J. Thoms]].<ref name=vol1/> It was founded as an academic correspondence [[magazine]], in which scholars and interested amateurs could exchange knowledge on [[folklore]], [[literature]] and [[history]]. The format consisted of "Notes" (miscellaneous findings of correspondents that they and the editors considered of interest to the readership), and "Queries" (and responses to queries), which formed the bulk of the publication.<ref name=vol1/> The magazine has been likened to a 19th-century version of a moderated Internet [[newsgroup]].<ref>[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/CBW/ynq/ GENUKI Yorkshire Notes and Queries.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202165127/http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/CBW/ynq/ |date=2012-02-02 }}</ref>

Many of the entries in the journal for its first seventy years were only a few paragraphs long, and occasionally as short as a sentence or two. Very frequent contributors include the Rev. [[Walter W. Skeat]], one of the most important figures in the field of English [[etymology]], and [[Eliza Gutch]], a founding member of [[The Folklore Society]]. The foundation of such a society was suggested by Gutch through a query to the publication. Gutch contributed to the publication for over seventy years, using the pseudonym "St Swithin".<ref name=DEF>Jacqueline Simpson (Editor), Steve Roud (Editor) (2003). ''A Dictionary of English Folklore''. [[Oxford University Press]]</ref><ref>Peacock, Max. ''The Peacock Lincolnshire word books, 1884-1920'', Barton on Humber: Scunthorpe Museum Society, 1997, p.8. {{ISBN|0-907098-04-5}}</ref>

Today the magazine is produced as an [[academic journal]]. The articles are typically much longer than they were during the journal's early years, though they are still shorter than those of the typical academic journal. In addition, the "Notes" now far outweigh the "Queries", and book reviews have also been introduced. The focus is now almost entirely on literature.

==19th- and 20th-century editors==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2023}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
*1849–1872 [[William Thoms]]
*1872–1878 [[John Doran (writer)|John Doran]]
*1878–1883 [[Henry Frederic Turle]]
*1883–1907 [[Joseph Knight (critic)|Joseph Knight]]
*1907–1912 [[Vernon Horace Rendall]]
*1912–1942 [[Women cryptanalysts at MI1(b)#Florence Hayllar|Florence Hayllar]]
*1942–1958 [[Frederick Page (editor)|Frederick Page]]<ref name=Page>FREDERICK PAGE, 1879–1962, Notes and Queries, Volume 9, Issue 10, October 1962, Pages 362–a–362, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/9-10-362a</ref>
*1959–1976 [[James Coutts Maxwell]]
*1959–1962 [[Robert Burchfield]]
*1962–2018 [[Eric Stanley]]
*1977–1983 [[John David Fleeman]]
*1977–1998 [[Douglas Hewitt]]
*1983–2021 [[Glenn Black]]
}}

==Namesakes==
Over 20 [[Counties of England|county]] or regional publications across England, mostly launched in the late 19th century, adopted a similar "notes and queries" format; 16 of which, beginning with ''Gloucestershire Notes and Queries'' in 1879, included the term within their titles.<ref>{{cite journal |first=C. R. |last=Elrington |author-link=Christopher Elrington |title=One hundred years of ''Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries'' |journal=Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries |volume=32 |issue=328 |year=1988 |pages=689–694 }}</ref> ''Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset'' (launched in 1888) and ''Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries'' (launched 1900) both survive in regular publication. There have been several incarnations of ''[[American Notes and Queries]]''.<ref>[https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3AAmerican%20Notes%20and%20Queries%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts American Notes and Queries], via [[Internet Archive]]</ref> There are also ''[[Canadian Notes & Queries]]'' and ''Kōtare: New Zealand Notes and Queries''.

''Notes and Queries'' has also given its name to a number of columns and sections within wider-ranging publications. These include a regular "[[Notes & Queries]]" feature in ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper, started in November 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,1352775,00.html|title=15 years of Notes & Queries|website=The Guardian|date=17 November 2004|access-date=19 September 2022}}</ref>

== Anthologies ==
The following [[anthologies]] of selections from ''Notes and Queries'' have appeared.<ref>{{cite book|title=Captain Cuttle's Mailbag: History, Folklore, and Victorian Pedantry from the Pages of "Notes and Queries"|publisher=Laboratory Books|year=2017|isbn=9781946053039|editor-last=Welch|editor-first=Edward|pages=15–16}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
!Publisher
|-
|-
|1857
|''Milleducia: A Thousand Pleasant Things selected from Notes and Queries''
|[[D. Appleton & Company|Appleton]]
|-
|1858
|''Choice Notes from Notes and Queries''
|[[George Bell & Sons|Bell & Daldy]]
|-
|2017
|''Captain Cuttle's Mailbag: History, Folklore & Victorian Pedantry from the Pages of "Notes and Queries"''
|Laboratory Books
|-
|}

== See also ==
* ''[[Notes and Records]]''

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{wikisource|Portal:Notes and Queries}}
* {{Official|https://academic.oup.com/nq}}
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Dzr9-fo_y_fAA_twuQB6-OsK0YqzT1XRCvir_qr194 Online Index of ''Notes and Queries'' (November 1849 – June 1922)], copies online at [[Internet Archive]], [[Project Gutenberg]] and [[Google Books]]. [https://archive.org/search.php?query=Notes%20and%20queries%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts Complete set, unordered].
* [http://www.victorianresearch.org/nandq.html Article on ''N&Q''] from Victoria Research Web
* [https://www.sdnq.org.uk/ Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries] (SDNQ)

[[Category:1849 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Folklore journals]]
[[Category:Literary magazines published in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Oxford University Press academic journals]]
[[Category:Academic journals established in 1849]]