The Establishment of Periodicals | 51two hundred of such Intelligenzblätter came into existence, starting in 1722
(Böning, in Fischer et al. 1999: 89f., 103; Doering-Manteuffel et al. 2001).
Appearing first on a weekly and later on a semi-weekly basis, they printed
job advertisements, birth notices, and obituaries, as well as advertisements for
works of literature. Some were issued by private individuals, but especially in
Prussia the state acted as publisher, securing a monopoly on advertisements in
1727 and consequently on the Intelligenzblätter. The innovation here was that
the papers were regionally based: also, they were issued in small towns where
the advertisements became part of the local living environment (Böning, in
Fischer et al.: 91–96). Their print run was fairly large, counting five hundred to
a thousand copies on average, not least due to low prices. Since the Intelligenz-
blätter were available in public buildings and sometimes purchased by admin-
istrations, officials, monasteries, hospitals and inns via forced subscriptions,
their reach was considerable and they represented an important connection
between urban and rural areas. Furthermore, over and above pro-government
statements, the advertisers developed editorial sections which also contributed
to public enlightenment. These include educational articles, practical advice,
and economic and agricultural reports (ibid.: 89f.; Blome, in Dooley 2010).
Humorous and literary texts also appeared. Another innovation was the inter-
play with the readers, who were encouraged to send in written contributions,
which helped the papers to shape interactive public spheres despite their affil-
iation with the state.
That said, an exceedingly strong impact in terms of media innovations in
eighteenth-century Europe must be ascribed to the periodical, which was not
merely a child of the Enlightenment and the public sphere, but rather their
prime agent. Periodicals were not published as frequently as newspapers, their
content was specialised and they were not so much focused on currentness.
They engaged more in rational-critical debate and imparted general knowl-
edge beyond the politics of the day, which was dealt with in detailed articles.
Periodicals rapidly developed a range of different formats, which were
adapted and copied transnationally, with groundbreaking impulses being
provided by France and England. The Parisian Journal des savants, for
instance, which was first published in early 1665, is considered the first sci-
entific periodical, followed three months later by Philosophical Transactions
in England. In the field of entertainment and literary periodicals, the French
Mercure Galant (from 1672) provided important impetus. In the establish-
ment of moral weekly periodicals, the English Tatler (1709) and Spectator
(1711) represented key influences which were fast imitated in Germany with
only few alterations. Recent studies have actually stressed that some types
of periodicals had their roots in Germany. The Hamburg journal Erbau-
liche Ruh-Stunden (1676), for instance, is considered an early version of
moral weekly periodicals, and the Nuremberg Der Verkleidete Götter-Bothe