ROYALTY DIGEST
A Journal of Record

Extract from the Janus Column page 384 of Issue 168

Fourteen years is quite a long time for a small magazine with a devoted but niche market. Since I announced three months ago that we were finishing after the June issue [copy below], we have been left in no doubt at all as to the feelings almost of desolation of many of our regular readers....Now for the future. We are continuing with the Royalty Week-ends for at least one more year and possibly beyond that, depending on how April 2006 goes. [Stop Press: The April 2006 Week-end was a success and several of us are arranging the April 2007 week-end.- Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th. If you are interested in attending please contact Robert Greenhalgh at the Ticehurst Bookshop. Further information will be published here from time to time]

Catalogues

We remain retailers of books on Royalty. A catalogue will be issued periodically through the year. These will cover both British and Continental secondhand books in quantity plus an updated list of reprints and new books. Those new to Royalty Digest or not currently subscribers and interested in receiving a copy of the catalogue please contact us at our e-mail address, phone number, fax or postal address at the top of this page.

We are always interested to receive suggestions for reprinting out of copyright books in the field.
Paul Minet

The anouncement of the ceasing of Publication of Royalty Digest

The following is to be found on page 270 of issue 165

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

I am sorry to announce that Royalty Digest will be ceasing publication with issue 168 at the end of the present volume in June. We will have been publishing the magazine for fourteen years by then and it has never had a subscription list of more than 800, plus various numbers sold as back issues or bound volumes. At this level it has never paid and we have not been prepared to compromise on quality or move away from our serious content. Over the years I reckon it has not only absorbed the profits from the reprints but has also lost around £1,000 per issue, a total of £168,000 over the years. With rising postal rates, a falling dollar and various changes in the trade, partly due to the Internet, it has become evident that losses will rise in the future and I cannot guarantee that I can continue to fund the losses. We have also had a close association with Hatchards but their changing trading patterns has led them to cease stocking both the magazine and our reprints, which has cost us our major outlet. I shall miss my regular contact with Robin Piguet, the helpful assistant there.

I have approached various appropriate people who might want to continue RD's publication, but, perhaps not surprisingly in view of its losses, have been unable to find anyone both interested enough and substantial enough to tackle it. It has been a great pleasure working with the many regular readers we have had and also with my very long-serving staff, especially Charlotte Zeepvat and Sara Lane. Charlotte has been with me since the very beginning and has been a tower of strength. I look forward to both reading and selling her published books in the future. We have had many staff dealing with subscriptions, orders etc. through the years and to all of them I am grateful. Many readers have also contributed to these pages and together I think we have produced a reference work on past Royal Families which is unlikely to be superseded in the foreseeable future.

Piccadilly Rare Books will continue to specialise in Royal books and also publish reprints. We hope to publish the first of a major quarterly series of catalogues at the beginning of September, which will also include the Index to Vol. XIV as a centre section. All subscribers will automatically receive a copy. Most subscriptions fall in in June or July, but if you have any part of your subscription outstanding, this can be credited against purchases of books either from the lists between now and June or the catalogue in September. All 168 numbers will continue to be available at £2 apiece plus postage and we can supply back issues to the value of any outstanding subscriptions. We will endeavour to make sure that no-one is the loser by our ceasing publication. We will continue to offer binding facilities for full volumes of the magazine, plus back indices.

As well as secondhand books and reprints, we will endeavour to stock the best of the new books published on the subject. We will continue also to offer a major bookselling facility in the Royal field at Ticehurst where customers old and new will be welcome. The Royalty Weekend continues as usual in April 2008.

With Best wishes, Paul Minet (Editor and Owner).

From the webmaster:

Despite the above comments concerning economics the decision to close the Royalty Digest was taken neither lightly nor gladly. The magazine represents fourteen years of effort by Paul, his contributors and associates (by no means the least: Charlotte Zeepvat in both categories) in passing on their enthusiasm and raising interest in a neglected area of recent history. If the circulation has not risen above 800 you may be certain that that represents a minimum of 800 devoted readers each month. Some subscribers have admitted to circulating their copy to friends thus considerably increasing the total of readers. If the magazine must end you may be sure that it will end demonstrating the same high quality of knowledge, attention and devotion shown from no. 1 volume 1. The back issues will continue to be read and new readers will join the ranks of devotees for many years to come.

I am proud to have been associated with Paul Minet and Royalty Digest for the best part of the last ten years. I am ashamed to state that I knew little of royalty beyond our present monarch, her immediate family and the daily carping of the press. The more I read Royalty Digest the more I came to appreciate the subject. I shall miss my monthly struggle with the table of contents - after June will be the time to prepare an index encompassing all fourteen volumes - perhaps....

BACKGROUND

Royalty Digest is a magazine devoted to nineteenth century European Royalty and its social, historical and modern impact. The magazine has been in continuous publication since July 1991 and contains articles by major authors and specialists in the field. Regular items include Editorial, Book Reviews, Obituaries (both recent and archive), Glimpses, News, and the Piers Brissault's Janus column. In addition, a large selection of Royalty Digest reprints of scarce books, more recent books by other publishers and secondhand books is offered each month.

Past issues are available either individually or bound in volumes of twelve issues from The Ticehurst Bookshop.

With issue 49 onward we have incorporated a relevant photograph on the cover of Royalty Digest in addition to the photographs and other illustrations that have always been included with the text. . In our Gallery section we have a thumbnail and a larger image of each of these covers. From time to time we will display items which we were unable to include with an article and other items of interest.

We have prepared a running table of contents of articles and points of interest raised in Royalty Digest since its inception. This listing has been sorted into country or area and then by date of publication. Similarly, we have prepared a list by date of publication of book reviews.

COPYRIGHT
We hope that you find this site to be of interest and assistance. We would, however, remind you that much that appears in this site is subject to copyright and that anything used in another publication must be with the prior agreement of the copyright holder.