Landmark issue for The Spectator

Bumper issue to celebrate landmark
Bumper issue to celebrate landmark

The Spectator – which lays claim to being the world’s oldest continually-published magazine – has published its 10,000th issue.

Its 25 April issue hit newsstands today. The current affairs magazine was first published in 1828.

In a piece to mark the landmark, writer and historian Tom Holland described the title as “one of the great wonders of journalism”.

He wrote: ”The Spectator is a child of the 19th century, and damned proud of it. First published in 1828, the link provided by its 10,000 issues to a long-vanished age of Regency waistlines and Romantic poets is one of the great wonders of journalism. Its success was built upon Victorian foundations, yet it is a peculiarity of the current media landscape that The Spectator, the only current affairs magazine actually to have been published in the 19th century, should in many ways seem the least Victorian of the lot.”

The Spectator has an ABC audited circulation of 91,254 copies a week, of which 68,460 are subscription copies. The bumper landmark issue features a cover illustration by Morten Morland depicting readers over the course of its history.  

The magazine is printed at Walstead Peterborough, with text pages on 65gsm UPM Ultra and UPM Finesse used for the cover stock. Walstead also manages the mailing and fulfilment, which is carried out by First Mailing in Huntingdon. 

Walstead group sales director Jon Hearnden said: "We are obviously thrilled to be associated with such a strong brand that has been in existence for such a long time. 

"We also recently agreed a two-year extension to our contract to print The Spectator, which will take our relationship to over 20 years," he added. 

The magazine is published by Press Holdings, which is controlled by Telegraph Media Group owners Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay.

Its chairman is journalist Andrew Neil, who tweeted his pride at the achievement.

A commemorative book written by David Butterfield, 10,000 Not Out: The History of The Spectator 1828 – 2020, has also been published this week.