The Tatler
An influential British literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709 and published in its original form until 1711.
Last updated November 4, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
The Tatler was a British literary, social, and cultural journal established by Richard Steele in London in 1709. Although its original run lasted less than two years, it helped define the periodical essay as a major form of English journalism and created a model for later publications concerned with manners, conversation, literature, and public conduct. The journal appeared three times a week and presented itself as a digest of reports gathered from London coffeehouses, where political discussion, literary exchange, commercial information, and social gossip circulated among readers. Its title referred to the act of telling or exchanging gossip, but its ambitions extended beyond entertainment: it sought to comment on contemporary behavior and to cultivate the judgment and manners of its largely middle- and upper-class audience. Steele wrote under the persona of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire. This was one of the earliest sustained uses of a consistent journalistic character as the apparent author of a periodical. Bickerstaff allowed Steele to combine first-person observation, invented correspondence, social satire, moral instruction, and commentary on public life while maintaining a degree of distance from the real author. The device adapted earlier traditions of literary “characters” to the emerging newspaper and magazine culture of the early eighteenth century. The journal claimed to avoid direct political reporting, leaving politics to newspapers, yet its discussion of social conduct and public opinion reflected Whiggish assumptions and often carried an implicit political dimension. The issues were organized around four prominent London coffeehouses. Reports associated with White’s dealt principally with manners and social behavior; Will’s supplied literary material; the Grecian Coffee House provided antiquarian and scholarly observations; and St. James’s Coffee House served as the source for news. This structure gave the journal a recognizable editorial framework while presenting fictionalized local reporting as if it came from a network of correspondents. Steele mixed genuine observations and contemporary subjects with invented episodes, creating a flexible blend of reportage, satire, and literary essay. Jonathan Swift and Joseph Addison contributed to the journal, adopting the Bickerstaff identity alongside Steele. Their participation strengthened the publication’s literary importance, although authorship was not always transparent to contemporary readers and became clearer when the papers were collected. The collected material was published in editions associated with The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. The Tatler’s essays later circulated together with collections of The Spectator, the more durable periodical that Steele and Addison founded after ending the earlier journal. The Tatler’s importance lies less in its commercial continuity than in its influence. It established a repeatable format in which a named editorial persona could interpret everyday society, educate readers through wit, and connect literary criticism with observations about public manners. Its example influenced The Spectator and later periodical essayists, including Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt. The original title was subsequently borrowed by several short-lived imitations and revivals, including publications in London, Edinburgh, and other contexts. These later uses should be distinguished from the 1709 journal itself. A separate magazine introduced as Tatler in 1901 ultimately developed into the modern Tatler magazine, but it was a later publication named in reference to Steele’s periodical rather than a continuous operation of the original brand. The original Tatler ended on 2 January 1711, when Steele and Addison chose to close it and begin The Spectator with a new editorial persona and a related but more developed format. In historical terms, The Tatler is therefore a defunct periodical brand, but its editorial methods remain central to the history of English journalism, literary magazines, and society writing.
History
The Tatler emerged in the early eighteenth-century London environment in which coffeehouses functioned as centers of news exchange, literary discussion, commercial information, and political debate. Richard Steele founded the journal in 1709 and wrote under the name Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire. Rather than presenting itself as a conventional newspaper, it adopted the voice of an observing commentator who gathered reports from the city’s principal coffeehouses and used them to discuss manners, social behavior, literature, antiquarian subjects, and news. The journal was issued three times weekly. Its editorial conceit was that a reporter had been assigned to each of four coffeehouses, with the location determining the general subject of an item. White’s was associated with social manners; Will’s with literary observations; the Grecian Coffee House with antiquarian and scholarly material; and St. James’s Coffee House with news. The arrangement gave the publication a varied but recognizable structure. In practice, Steele combined real public topics with fictionalized stories and invented gossip, making The Tatler an early example of journalism that openly relied on an editorial persona and literary construction. Steele’s use of Isaac Bickerstaff was particularly significant. The persona provided continuity across issues and allowed the journal to speak in the first person as a recognizable public observer. It also enabled Steele to present criticism of social conduct as advice from a fictional but authoritative commentator. The journal announced that it would largely leave formal politics to newspapers, but its preference for Whiggish ideas and its interest in the behavior of politically engaged readers gave its social commentary a broader public significance. Its target audience included educated gentlemen and other readers interested in polite conversation, contemporary culture, and the improvement of manners. Joseph Addison and Jonathan Swift contributed material, with contributors sometimes writing as if they were Bickerstaff. Their involvement connected The Tatler to the wider literary culture of the period and helped establish the periodical essay as a form capable of combining entertainment, moral reflection, criticism, and social analysis. The papers were later collected, including in editions associated with The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. Collected editions helped preserve the journal’s literary reputation and made its essays available beyond the original issue-by-issue readership. The first series ran from 12 April 1709 to 2 January 1711. In 1711, Steele and Addison decided to liquidate The Tatler and create The Spectator. The new publication abandoned the Bickerstaff identity for another editorial framework, but it developed many of the earlier journal’s methods: fictional or stylized voices, essays on conduct, literary commentary, and the interpretation of everyday public life. The Tatler therefore functioned as an important prototype for The Spectator rather than merely as an abandoned predecessor. The title attracted a number of later revivals and imitations. John Morphew continued to publish issues in 1711 under the Isaac Bickerstaffe name after the original series had ended. Rival and regional versions also appeared, including an Edinburgh publication associated with Donald Macstaff of the North. Other short series appeared during the eighteenth century, and in 1830 Leigh Hunt launched The Tatler: A Daily Journal of Literature and the Stage. These publications borrowed the title but were not continuous editions of the original 1709 journal. A separate magazine introduced in 1901 as Tatler later became the modern Tatler publication, likewise taking inspiration from Steele’s periodical rather than preserving an uninterrupted corporate or editorial lineage. The original Tatler influenced the development of English journalism and essay writing. Its combination of a recurring authorial persona, social observation, invented reportage, literary judgment, and instruction in manners supplied a model for later periodicals. The Spectator followed most directly, while later writers such as Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt inherited aspects of the periodical-essay tradition. The original brand is defunct, but its historical role is substantial: it helped establish the magazine essay as a vehicle for shaping public taste and discussing the conduct of modern society.
- 1901
A later magazine adopts the Tatler name
[1]Clement Shorter introduces a magazine called Tatler, named in reference to Steele’s periodical; it later develops into the modern Tatler title.
- 1830
Leigh Hunt launches a later Tatler
[1]Leigh Hunt introduces The Tatler: A Daily Journal of Literature and the Stage, a later publication distinct from Steele’s original.
- 1711
Original run ends
[1]The original Tatler publishes its final issue on 2 January after Steele and Addison decide to move on to The Spectator.
- 1711
Continuations and imitations appear
[1]Other publishers issue short-lived versions using the Tatler title or the Isaac Bickerstaff identity.
- 1710
Collected editions begin appearing
[1]The journal’s papers are collected in editions associated with The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.
- 1709
The Tatler is founded
[1]Richard Steele begins the journal in London under the pen name Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire.
- 1709
Coffeehouse reporting format established
[1]The journal organizes material around four London coffeehouses, assigning them different social, literary, antiquarian, and news functions.
Products and positioning
A cultivated coffeehouse journal combining literary essays, social observation, gossip, moral commentary, and instruction in manners. It occupied a space between news reporting and literary entertainment, using wit and a fictional correspondent to interpret contemporary London life.
Literary and society periodical · 1709
The Tatler
The original publication was a triweekly journal of essays, social observation, literary commentary, antiquarian notes, and news. It presented material through the fictional reporting persona of Isaac Bickerstaff and framed much of its content as information gathered from London coffeehouses. Its distinctive blend of gossip, invented narrative, moral instruction, and cultural criticism made it an important early model for English magazine journalism.
Collected edition · 1710
The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.
Collected editions brought together papers from The Tatler under the Isaac Bickerstaff persona. These volumes extended the life of the original issues and helped establish the journal as a literary work as well as a periodical publication. The collected form also supported later comparison with collections of The Spectator.
Brand decisions
1711
Steele and Addison close The Tatler to launch The SpectatorStrategyBackground
After the original journal had established a successful periodical-essay format and attracted contributions from major literary figures, Richard Steele and Joseph Addison chose to end it rather than continue the same title.
Action taken
They liquidated The Tatler and co-founded The Spectator, using a different persona and a related but newly framed editorial concept.
Aftermath
The Tatler became a short-lived but influential predecessor to The Spectator. Its methods continued to shape English periodical writing, while later publishers produced separate revivals and imitations under the Tatler name.
Recent events
- 1711
The Tatler is discontinued as Steele and Addison prepare The Spectator[1]
Other
The original journal ended after Steele and Addison decided to close it and establish The Spectator with a different persona and editorial project.
- 1711
Later publications revive or imitate the Tatler name[1]
Product generation
Several publishers and editors produced short-lived continuations, rivals, or imitations using the Tatler title or the Isaac Bickerstaff identity.
- 1709
Richard Steele launches The Tatler[1]
Product launch
Richard Steele began publishing The Tatler under the persona of Isaac Bickerstaff, presenting a new form of coffeehouse-based literary and social journalism.
Sources1 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/the-tatler · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled