This index provides valuable information on the vast majority of reviews of poetry, fiction, and drama during the first 25 years of modern, formalized book reviewing in England.

Forster introduces readers to the wealth of material in the two major review journals (Monthly Review and Critical Review), the two major magazines (Gentleman’s and London), and 11 other periodicals. She includes in her 3,023 entries information on format, price, and bookseller’s name taken from the books themselves. In her Introduction, Forster surveys some material concerning the reviewers’ public attitude to their self-appointed task to provide a background against which the reviewers’ literary judgments can be examined.